The Proteas Women have won the toss and have elected to bowl first in the ICC Women’s World Cup final at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
There was rain around in Navi Mumbai in the morning, which resulted in a 90-minute delayed due to a wet field without any overs lost due to the weather.
“We are going to bowl first,” said Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt. “Bit of rain around and there might be dew later on, hoping for a bit of slippinness early on with all the rain around. We are unchanged from the semis.
“Big game for us and we are really excited for the opportunity to be here and play in front of a big crowd. We are very confident.”
India have played in two previous World Cup finals, but it will be a first-ever appearance for the Laura Wolvaardt’s Proteas team.
A new name will therefore be engraved on the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – and whether it be India or South Africa trophy – marking a seismic moment in the history of the sport.
Australia and England have previously dominated this tournament by winning it 11 times between them but were blown away in two matches the women’s game may look back upon in years to come as a significant turning point.
South Africa have been knocking on the door for some time. Wednesday marked their third straight ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-final, while they have also contested the last two ICC Women’s T20 World Cup finals.
However, the Proteas have found converting talent into trophies difficult to do on both the men’s and women’s sides – until the men became ICC World Test champions in June.
The women arrive in Navi Mumbai blessed with a world-class team forged over many years, led by superstar opening batter Laura Wolvaardt and backed up by the new ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup all-time wicket-taker in Marizanne Kapp. This is, they feel, their destiny.
The Proteas and India both have an unchanged team from their semi-final victories.
TEAMS FOR ICC WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FINAL
PROTEAS: Laura Wolvaardt (captain), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Annerie Dercksen, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba.
INDIA: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Amanjot Kaur, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Kranti Gaud, N Shree Charani, Renuka Singh.
On-field Umpires: Eloise Sheridan (Australia) & Jacqueline Williams (West Indies)
Third Umpire: Sue Redfern (England), Fourth Umpire: Nimali Perera (Sri Lanka)
Match Referee: Michell Pereira (Sri Lanka)
