“Red-ball must be incorporated into domestic cricket, or we must abandon it,” said Laura Wolvaardt.

Given that her team isn’t able to play local red-ball cricket, South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt describes playing Tests as a “challenge”. Considering how difficult it is to adjust to, she suggested that they be given the opportunity to play additional multi-day games or “just leave” the format alone.

Laura Wolvaardt stated, “It’s obviously a challenge for most of us having any sort of preparation in the format,” the night before South Africa’s Test match against India in Chennai. “It’s challenging to get right into an international multi-day game. For instance, I suddenly have to leave balls that I’ve been cover-driving my entire life, which is challenging for me because it just comes naturally to me and I have to bat the way I’ve done my entire career.

“It’s difficult to adjust to playing one Test every three years, so I believe we either need to play a lot more of them and integrate them into our domestic practice and conditioning, or we should just give up on it. However, I favour having more of it.”

In order to encourage more women to play red-ball cricket, Laura Wolvaardt expects that discussions are taking place inside the Cricket South Africa board. As part of their domestic season, South African women presently compete in the CSA Women’s Provincial 50-over competition and T20s.

“I haven’t been part of any such conversations, but I’m hoping that it is a conversation higher up,” she stated. “We need to prepare ourselves domestically if we want to give ourselves the best opportunity of winning these games globally. It’s difficult to enter an international Test match without any prior red-ball experience in the team.”

South Africa is scheduled to play three Test matches this year, which is the first time they have done so since 1972. After a nearly two-year hiatus, they last played a Test match in Australia in February. They are currently facing India and England at home in a multi-format series that will include a single Test match in Bloemfontein in December. Additionally, it will be their first Test at home since they hosted India at Paarl in 2002.

“Balls that I’ve been cover-driving my whole life, I now need to leave, which is difficult for me because it just happens on instinct and I have to fight the way that I’ve been batting for my entire career.”-Laura Wolvaardt.

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“I think it’s great to have the chance to play more Test cricket, and many of our girls are eager to participate in more matches. Of course, it’s really fantastic to have three scheduled in a calendar year, and it’s something I’ve been hoping to see for a while. For my part, I think the format is great and would love to see more of it. This test is going to be quite difficult for us, in my opinion. And maybe we can adjust to the circumstances.”

Laura Wolvaardt also noted that batting on the spin-friendly Chepauk pitch, which is unfamiliar territory for South Africa, presents a challenge.

“Batting-wise it is going to be a big challenge for our group,” she stated. “Obviously, the conditions here are very different from what we’re used to and exposed to at home, but fortunately, we also have some talented spinners in our squad.” Players like Nonkululeko Mlaba, in my opinion, would be salivating over her. I hope they can perform well and be tight and consistent in their areas.”