Laura Wolvaardt looking forward to better Proteas Women in 2026

Wolvaardt was speaking at the end of their white-ball series against Ireland, which culminated in a dominant 6-wicket win in the final ODI in Johannesburg yesterday. 

She says another one of their goals for the coming year will be to do a lot better in bilateral series than they have in recent years. 

"I think, as a team, obviously the World Cup is huge, it's probably the main event next year – so all the effort and energy will go into that," said Wolvaardt.

"And depending where we rank in that, I think, will sort of define our year, and I think we've got a couple of big series as well so we've been looking for some consistency in our bilateral series throughout the last couple of seasons.

"We've been very good at World Cups and not so good at bilaterals, so I think finding that consistency in the bilaterals and having a good World Cup would be pretty successful."

READ: Wolvaardt century seals Proteas Women series sweep against Ireland

One of the main areas Wolvaardt hopes will improve in 2026 is their bowling, which she says needs a bit more consistency in the 50-over matches.  

She says they were too loose at times, which couldn’t complement the good work done with the bat. 

"I think the bowlers, we saw in that last game [against Ireland], obviously we batted really well and scored 370, but I think the bowlers just could have been a bit more consistent for a bit longer," she acknowledged.

"I think a lot of it was a couple of good balls and they just let that one slip sort-of, and I think that will be my main message to the bowlers – just be as consistent as we can and hit the stumps for longer [periods].

"Especially in 50-over cricket, just building that pressure and hitting the stumps more often – I think we were off the stumps a bit too much in that game."