Durban, April 16 (IANS) South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt on Thursday hailed the ‘raw power’ of young batting all-rounder Kayla Reyneke, describing her as a rare talent who could provide the X-factor in the Proteas’ middle-order ahead of the five-match T20I series against India starting on Friday.
Kayla, 20, is enjoying a dream start to her international career – hitting a six off the last ball to make the Proteas win in her T20I debut against Pakistan. On ODI debut against New Zealand, Kayla was calmness personified winning the game again by hitting a six off the last ball.
“Kayla’s very exciting. Obviously her being an all-rounder, she bowls pretty good off-spin, which is something this group has been looking for a while as a true off-spinner. Obviously we have Sune (Luus) as well, but then Kayla just adds a bit of a different dynamic, bowls a little bit differently to what she does.
“So it just helps with the balance and then to have her coming in and to be able to smash sixes like that at will is something that you don’t find every day and it’s pretty rare, especially in a youngster like that.
“That raw power is pretty hard to teach and I’ve been trying to work on it for a long time, but she seems to just have it. So very exciting, very explosive and destructive player, and hopefully she’s able to do that for many more games for us,” said Laura, while replying to a question from IANS in the pre-series press conference.
The Proteas are entering a new era with a revamped coaching staff, including batting coach Andrew Puttick, who played one ODI for the Proteas and was with Afghanistan set-up as well, and fielding coach Mduduzi Mbhatha. Laura believes these ‘fresh voices’ will help the team move past their recent string of final-over heartbreaks and prepare well for 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup.
“Obviously big changes for us. I think the coaches that were with us were with us for a very long time, and had a very successful time with us in making all of those World Cup finals while we were working together.
“But, as Mandla (Mashimbyi, head coach) said, it’s just about fresh voices and fresh perspectives in the team. The people who have come in is people that we have worked with before… so not entirely new. So I think that sort of made it a bit easier to settle in the last few days,” she added.
The series also marks the first meeting between the two sides since India edged South Africa in the 2025 ODI World Cup final in Navi Mumbai. “Very exciting rivalry. Obviously, in the World Cup, different format, but we beat them in the group stages, and then lost the final, which was disappointing.
“Haven’t played them since that final, obviously, so definitely looking forward to a bit of a rematch. I think we play a lot of cricket against them, so we know what they’re about, and sort of already have plans in place for some of their players, which is nice,” she said.
Addressing her own batting position, Wolvaardt remained flexible about whether she would open or play at number three, especially with the opening combination yet to be firmed up. “Personally, I don’t really mind. I think the roles don’t change too much, and number three is something that I’ve done a bit this year and last year at the different leagues. I prefer both, who have their pros and cons. Whichever thing the coach wants me to do in each series, I’m happy to do.”
The skipper was also full of praise for Annerie Dercksen, who was a standout performer in T20Is in New Zealand. “Derksen’s been amazing. She’s come into some really good form lately… She really looks to be in control of her batting, which is very exciting. She’s been great around that 4-5 position in T20s. She has that power later on as well, which is cool if she’s able to construct in innings and then really take the game on at the end.”
Reflecting on the technical adjustments needed after the New Zealand tour, Laura pointed out the need for better execution in the bowling department and a more proactive approach with the bat.
“We are trying to fix things a little bit and identified where we’ve gone wrong. With the ball, a lot of it, I would say, is a bit of execution. The plans were there, but then in every over, we just had one bad ball that wasn’t to the field or that wasn’t in line with what we were trying to do.
“So with the ball, the last few days, it’s really just been about being precise in what we’re trying to do and really land the ball in the areas that we want to for longer periods of time. With the bat, just got to be a bit more proactive, rotate a bit better, have a couple of different shots up our arse, and also the last few days, we’ve been pretty precise on different shots that we want to play and sort of drilled them pretty hard.
“So hopefully they’re able to come out in the games. Also, just a bit of a positioning thing with the bat as well. Some of us maybe lose our shapes just a little bit. So we just really try to zone in on that and hopefully that’ll be good for the game.”
Despite the absence of senior all-rounders Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk, Laura was left excited by the young fast-bowling talent at her disposal. “We have a lot of young fast bowlers, which is very exciting… I think experiences like New Zealand is just going to make bowlers like Ayanda Hlubi so much more better than what she was before.
“I think we saw Tumi really swinging the ball in New Zealand, which was exciting. Ayanda had some good pace and bounce. It’s just all about bringing that together and finding the right combination and hopefully we’re able to execute a little bit better this series,” she concluded.
–IANS
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