NAVI MUMBAI: Nadine de Klerk was running in to bowl the third delivery of the 43rd over at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati. By that time, South Africa had already killed the contest for England and were on the brink of making history — becoming the first team from the Rainbow Nation (across men and women) to enter an ODI World Cup final.
Their skipper, Laura Wolvaardt, who played the innings of her life (169), was riding the boundary ropes. Marizanne Kapp, the omnipresent warrior for South Africa, had run through the England line-up, took five wickets (5/20) and was now sitting in the dressing room alongside Tazmin Brits, who had picked up an on-field injury. On the field, the eleven South Africans were going through the motions, waiting for the last wicket so that they could let out all the pent-up emotions within.
De Klerk delivered a full delivery, which Linsey Smith chipped over extra cover, and Sune Luus ran from mid-off to get hold of it. Chloe Tryon watched from short cover in anticipation, arms aloft, waiting for Luus to complete the catch. De Klerk had her hands on her head. Then, it happened. Tryon ran towards De Klerk to embrace her, and soon Luus joined. Sinalo Jafta, who was struggling with her leg, stuttered her way to the huddle, which by now had become bigger, louder, and cheering in ecstasy.
The moment they had longed and toiled for was finally here. South Africa are an ODI World Cup finalist. The reactions, on ICC’s digital channel momentarily after, show what it means to them. “The script is written already; it’s always God’s timing,” says Jafta. “Too many emotions right now,” Masbata Klaas struggles to put into words. Tryon looks up in the sky and says, “Written in the stars.”
From getting 69 all out in their opening game against the same opponent to hammering them by 125 runs at the same venue and entering their first ODI World Cup — and third successive across formats — does feel like destiny. But behind the destiny, the three ICC finals remain multiple World Cup heartbreaks, the individuals who strived to keep fighting and the next generation leaders who took up the wheel under circumstances that were not ideal and kept the dream going.
Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klass and Kapp made their ODI debut between 2009-12. Throw Shabnim Ismail — who retired in mid-2023 — in the mix, the quartet served South Africa for more than a decade. Khakha and Klass did not want to let each other go on Wednesday night, sharing a bear hug in tears. Soon, Kapp joined, and it became a group hug where a decade’s worth of heartbreaks and memories would have been relived in seconds.
Two years ago, they were all there in Cape Town, inconsolable in joy, having beaten England to enter their first-ever ICC final, that too at a home T20 World Cup. Back then, defending 164, Kapp, who felt spent after batting, pleaded with Ismail to take the lead. “The batting took a bit out of me, and I just asked, 'please, please you lead us today,” Kapp would say after that match.
In Guwahati, Ismail was not there by her side, and Kapp decided to take it upon herself. She delivered a dream inswinger to clean up Amy Jones on the very second ball in the defence of 319. Then she followed it up with that of Heather Knight in the same over and then a few more later. “I think it's just to go back to the experience of having been here for so many years, and ultimately that is what wins you semi-finals and World Cups. I feel that in the past semi-finals, I probably haven't been at my best and haven't contributed the way I should have. So, I'm really happy that tonight I could make a difference in the result,” she said after the match on Wednesday.
If Marizanne did the job with the ball, Wolvaardt had made this team her own, and she set the semifinal for South Africa with one of the greatest WC centuries. Throughout the tournament, she kept insisting that her best was yet to come despite being among the top run-getters; she brought it to the biggest stage, making history for her country. Luus — the skipper who took them to the final in 2023 — showed up with two crucial fifties against New Zealand and Pakistan, being the bridge between Wolvaardt and Kapp in the batting line-up.
There were Brits and De Klerk — both of them had their own journeys to this point, but had one common thread. Till late 2022, they were not regular in the side. The more they played from there on, the better they got, becoming match-winners in their own right. If not for Brits’ ton against New Zealand, De Klerk’s finishing, alongside Tryon, versus India and Bangladesh, the campaign could have looked very different. Match after match, venue after venue, Nokululeko Mlaba spun her web, taking 12 wickets — joint-most for South Africa with Kapp.
For a team that fell short in the 2017, 2020 and 2022 World Cup (across formats) semifinals, South Africa has since become the one common factor in all ICC finals. They saw South Africa rally around with a record crowd at Newlands, Cape Town; knocked out Australia in the 2024 T20 semifinal and are now waiting to see who among India and the defending champions will show up for the summit clash. Call it destiny or script or written in the stars; such consistency would not have happened without the blood and sweat of the trailblazers who carried the team and the next-generation leaders who are taking the legacy forward. And therein lies the South African story.
