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Laura Wolvaardt Honoured At The 2022 Sport Industry Awards

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JOHANNESBURG – Momentum Proteas and Six Gun Grill Western Province star, Laura Wolvaardt was named the Sport Personality of the Year at the recently held Sport Industry Awards last Thursday, after a successful year in South African and domestic franchise colours.

The Sport Industry Awards are one of South Africa’s most distinguished awards ceremony for sport and business, acknowledging leaders and the movers and shakers within the business of sport.

The 23-year old has enjoyed a career-best season with bat in hand, particularly on the One-Day International stage. Wolvaardt recorded 882 runs in 18 matches at an average of 49.00 with one century and eight-half-centuries for South Africa.

Her outstanding year included a hugely influential showing at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand in March, where the Cape Town-born cricketer bagged 443 runs, the most a South African player has ever scored at the World Cup, to help the Proteas reach the semi-finals.

Another notable achievement for Wolvaardt was her involvement in Team South Africa’s appearance in the inaugural Women’s T20 competition at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The top-order batter also made her hugely anticipated debut in Test cricket when South Africa took on England in a once-off encounter in Taunton, England.

CSA Chief Executive, Pholetsi Moseki commented:

“This is a spectacular achievement and it is hugely deserved as a reward and recognition for what Laura has achieved while representing South Africa or when flying the flag high in the plethora of overseas competitions she has participated in this year.

“The outstanding memory has to be her significant contributions to the Momentum Proteas’ success at the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand, where she majestically racked up four consecutive fifties to anchor the nation to a third straight semi-final in ICC events.

“On behalf of CSA and the South African cricket fraternity, I would like to congratulate Laura for her accomplishments and here’s to many more,” Moseki added.

Speaking from Australia, after helping guide her Adelaide Strikers side to the WBBL title, Wolvaardt said:

“It’s such an honour to be receiving this award. It has been a big year for me, I have played a lot of cricket and to see women’s cricket being recognised on such a big stage is amazing and it is great to see the progress that the game has made over the last couple of years.

“For me this year, my favourite moment was probably the World Cup. We had a really good World Cup in New Zealand where we made the semi-finals of the tournament. It was a great team performance all-round and everyone contributed at different times and it was just a really good tournament to be a part of.

“I am very honoured to be receiving this award. Thank you to everyone at the event for making it possible and hopefully it is the beginning of many more to come,” she concluded.

Cricket came to South Africa during the Napoleonic Wars and with the British forces occupying South Africa. The first match recorded was in 1808 in Cape Town between two service teams, for a prize of one thousand rix-dollars.

The oldest cricket club in South Africa is the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, founded in 1843. Few clubs in the world can boast such a long existence. The first championship was held in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1876 for the “champion bat.” Competing teams were Cape Town, Grahamstown, King Williams Town, and Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). It was won by King Williams Town and the year after that too.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.