Proteas power hitter Laura Wolvaardt reflects on record-breaking century

The Proteas Women chased down 192 with nine wickets in hand to win the third T20I in Johannesburg on Wednesday night, setting records aplenty.

In the chase, the hosts earned their fastest T20I team fifty, which came off 23 balls. Then Wolvaardt - who exuded main character energy throughout - powered to the fastest century by a South African woman in white ball cricket off just 47 balls.

And when the winning runs were hit in the 17th over, the Proteas Women had completed their highest-ever T20I run chase and won their first-ever home T20 series against India.

Unfortunately, Wolvaardt was not there at the end. The opener's party ended nine runs from time with an attempted slog sweep, holing out at deep mid-wicket. But Wanderers rose as she left the pitch, paying their dues to an incredible innings of 115 from 53.

"I realised pretty early on that the ball was sliding on nicely," reflected Wolvaardt, who has been in sublime form with scores of 54, 51 and two 69s in her last four knocks."My main thought was to max the Powerplay and once we got out of the Powerplay, just try to stay with the rate. I knew chasing 190, we needed a pretty good start so I just came out with a lot of intent. The wicket was nice and flat.

"We [Sune Luus scored 64 not out] kept each other pretty calm out there. It's new territory to find ourselves on 70-odd after the Powerplay but once we got that, we told each other we have to keep going.

"We knew we had so much power in the dugout so we just had to get as much as we could. And then once we got out of the Powerplay, I just tried to win the game as quickly as I could."

While they lost a series 4-1 to New Zealand, the Proteas Women have plenty to celebrate this summer with series victories over Ireland, Pakistan and now India.

Ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup in England in June, this is promising form.

"We are in a very good space," added Wolvaardt.

"We are improving every single game. It [the Wanderers] is a good surface and we have been getting the better of the tosses. Once we lose the toss and have to bat first, that will be a different story but that's what this five-match series is for."

The fourth T20I is on Saturday, then the players head to Benoni for a last hurrah on Monday. And at 3-0, the Proteas Women are eyeing a clean sweep.

READ MORE: Laura Wolvaardt's record-breaking century powers Proteas Women to series win