South Africa’s veteran pace-bowling all-rounder Marizanne Kapp wrecked England batting lineup in the Women's ODI World Cup 2025 semifinal on October 29. As South Africa made it to the final, she said that she would love to face hosts India in the title clash. Kapp loves to play in front of a crowd whether they are cheering for her or the opposition team.
“Look, we've been saying for a couple of years now, I would love to play India in a final especially I feel like when I play in India, even though the crowd is against me, it feels like they're shouting for me. So, I love the crowds,” said Kapp in the post-match press conference.
Marizanne sets the tone
While it was captain Laura Wolvaardt's marathon 169-run knock that helped South Africa post a mammoth total of 319/7 on the board, England had enough firepower in their lineup. In the first over, Marizanne struck twice to remove Amy Jones and Heather Knight for ducks. Tammy Beaumont fell to Ayabonga Khaka for a duck. After the top-order collapse, England tried to get their run chase back on track. But, the experienced pacer returned to rule out a comeback with wickets of skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley and Charlotte Dean. South Africa ended up winning the game by 125 runs.
Marizanne’s was wary of ground’s stats
Kapp said that the group was calm but it wasn’t easy for them, especially after the drubbing in the league stage game. She lauded the openers for getting them off to a good start and setting the platform for a big score.
“It wasn't easy, No. I think, look, there was a calmness in the group this morning. For some reason we just felt like what will happen will happen and yeah, I think once we lost the toss, I was actually happy that we batted first. Just looking at the stats of this ground and how it's been going this World Cup, I feel like they probably felt like they were going to roll us over like we did in the first game against them. But like our two openers set it up beautifully for us to come in and. And just play our natural game,” she added.
Marizanne breaks all-time World Cup record
Kapp also broke India's legendary bowler Jhulan Goswami's record for most wickets in ODI World Cup history. The South African all-rounder has 44 wickets from 30 ODIs, featuring two fifers. She would look to extend her tally in the final.