South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt has put herself alongside Smriti Mandhana at the summit of the century chart of women’s international cricket, producing a record-breaking 126 not out to power the Proteas women to an unassailable 3-0 series lead over Zimbabwe. The Proteas skipper’s extraordinary innings in the third T20I was her fourth hundred in the format and the 18th century of her international career, taking her level with India’s Mandhana for the most hundreds in women’s cricket.
The 27-year-old surpassed her own previous T20I best of 115 not out, scored against Ireland in December last year. More significantly, she went past Shandre Fritz’s unbeaten 116 against the Netherlands in 2010 to claim the highest individual T20I score by a South African woman. They won the opening T20I after bowling Zimbabwe out for 116 and chasing the target in 13.1 overs before claiming the second match by 64 runs.
The result continued South Africa’s commanding start to the five-match series.
The hosts were reduced to 29/4 during the powerplay and slipped further to 35/6 after losing two more wickets in the next two overs. Zimbabwe’s response never threatened to match the tempo set by Wolvaardt.
It was a performance that turned an already dominant series into a personal landmark for Wolvaardt, who was named Player of the Match after carrying South Africa to 200/1.
