Phalaborwa-born Mandla Mashimbyi celebrates the Proteas women’s World Cup campaign, thanking his hometown for strong support and belief.

Proteas Women coach Mandla Mashimbyi says that reaching their first ICC ODI World Cup final has fostered individual growth and team unity.

The defeat is certainly not Wolvaardt’s fault. Just like in the T20 World Cup final at Newlands two years ago - SA’s first occasion in an ICC final - when she held the innings together with a half-century, Sunday saw her score a hundred, but like at Newlands, none of her teammates were able to lend her proper support.

The Proteas' skipper scored a century, but it was not enough to carry her team to victory in the Women’s Cricket World Cup final.

Nadine de Klerk has revealed how South Africa was able to bounce back from their first-up World Cup loss and how it might be the making of their campaign.

From an important cog in the Proteas wheel, albeit one whose status didn’t match that of Laura Wolvaardt or Marizanne Kapp, by the second week of the competition she was a trending topic on social media, with many experts declaring she was the player of the tournament in the round-robin phase.