It was the epitome of a Wolvaardt moment. "Hello? My name is Laura. One, two, three, four, five... Hello. One, two, three..." Less than 24 hours before the start of the biggest game of her life, Laura Wolvaardt was doing her bit to make sure the microphones at her press conference in Navi Mumbai on Saturday were working.

Not because she demanded that her voice be heard, but because she was in the right place at the right time for someone to ask her to do a sound check. So she did. No issues. That the owner of the global game's most glamorous cover drive should also be devoid of any trace of haughtiness tells its own story.

She's not precious. She's not a princess. She's a Protea.

At the same time, a day hence, that Wolvaardt proved she could count, the first innings in the World Cup final should be drawing to a close. If the innings goes the distance and barring serious interference from the weather, that is. The forecast says the latter is unlikely. As for the former...

South Africa were bowled out for 69 in 20.4 overs by England in their tournament opener in Guwahati, and for 97 in 24 by Australia in their last round-robin game in Indore.

"Coming back from those games needed a mental switch more than something we've done in training," Wolvaardt said. "We don't lose our skill or gain our skill overnight. We had to put those games behind us, and we were able to bounce back really well.

"Mandla [Mashimbyi] has been awesome with that; taking the positives and the learnings out of those games while not dwelling on 69 all out. If we focused too much on that it wouldn't have been a good campaign for us. We focused on the next game and what we needed to do well."

Indeed, three days after their England disaster South Africa scored 234/4 to beat New Zealand in Indore. They also breached 300 twice - the second time against the English who had humiliated them 26 days earlier. This time it mattered; they scored their 319/7 in the semifinal in Guwahati on Wednesday.

And there, from the first ball of the match to the last delivery of the 47th over, stood Wolvaardt. Her 169 was the kind of unshakeably calm, near perfectly executed, career-defining innings that we would still be lauding had Jemimah Rodrigues not stolen the spotlight with her physically and emotionally wrenched 127 not out in the other semi against the Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.

Whatever happens on Sunday, Wolvaardt and Rodrigues deserve a special trophy for helping to remove the two most numbingly efficient - and not a lot else - teams from reaching the final. Money and professionalism have made England and Australia giants of the game. But that hasn't made them watchable or relatable, or even likeable.

It's difficult to imagine any of their players bowling with the passion that made Marizanne Kapp a fire hazard on Wednesday, when she took 5/20 to ensure Wolvaardt's performance wasn't wasted. Should any of the English or Australian players pour their hearts, minds and souls out like Rodrigues did in the shimmering wake of her innings, it's not difficult to imagine them being yanked aside and told never to do something so embarrassing ever again.

So there will be a bracing freshness in the air at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday; a newness of spirit and a renewal of what it means to play cricket because of what you might achieve. Not because you expect, and are expected to, win.

Either England or Australia have been in all 10 of the women's World Cup finals yet played. They have had the decider all to themselves three times. India have been stung on both sides of that equation - they lost the 2005 showdown to Australia in Centurion and the 2017 final to England at Lord's. South Africa have never made it this far in the ODI version of the tournament.

"It's definitely very good for the health of the sport," Wolvaardt said of Sunday's scenario."It's very exciting that we are going to have a new champion of the World Cup. I think it shows how much the women's game is developing and how different countries are being able to use new resources and develop really good quality cricketers."

Where Rodrigues has a clear edge over Wolvaardt is in tugging at heartstrings, maybe because Wolvaardt - as a one-time aspirant medical student - knows hearts don't come with strings attached. When Wolvaardt talks, you could cut the logic with a scalpel.

"With the whole crowd behind India, and probably a sold-out stadium, it's going to be a very exciting opportunity," she said. "But, at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on them. They have the whole country behind them and are favourites to win, I guess. I think that plays in our favour.

"There's big pressure on both teams to perform and I think whoever stays the calmest under that pressure is going to most likely come out on top tomorrow."

How might the South Africans quiet a crowd of more than 45,000 who will only have eyes, and voices, for the Indians?

"Hopefully we win. I guess that will silence them."

Wolvaardt was part of the XI who lost the T20 World Cup final to Australia at Newlands in February 2023, and she captained the side who went down to New Zealand in the decider of the same event in Dubai in October 2024. What had those experiences taught her?

"The first time I was in a final, I automatically thought about the trophy and about winning and I got excited. Now I'm just trying to stay present. We have a really big game ahead of us against a really quality side.

"I'm trying not to think too far ahead. I need to focus on what I need to do tonight at practice and then what I need to do tomorrow morning; just slow it down.

"The first time you're in a final it feels like a really big, fast-paced event. We need to slow it down and take a big breath, and hopefully we're able to do that as a group."

What might winning a World Cup mean to her?

"It would be really special for women's cricket in the country. We've recently had a [professional] domestic league introduced, so I can only imagine what something like a World Cup trophy would do. The number of girls who'll be able to see it on TV, who'll be able to know that we're a World Cup-winning nation, is hopefully inspirational. It would be awesome.

"The first time we were in a final, at home in front of a sold-out Newlands, was special. Since then, we've seen domestic contracts introduced. Now we have the opportunity to go one step further.

"We've created quite a lot of noise at home and we've been getting a lot of messages from different people who have started watching women's cricket because of this tournament."

As you might have gathered, getting Wolvaardt to talk about herself isn't easily done. But not about others, like the fire to her ice - Kapp.

"She's one of the hardest workers in the side. She probably hits the most balls and does the most prep, which says something about how good she is. She probably doesn't need to do half of that work because she's so talented. But I think she gets a lot of confidence from her preparation.

"She's probably the most specific person I've seen training-wise out of everyone I've trained with. She has to do things in a certain way, and I think that shows in her cricket. She's been one of the best in the world for a very long time, I think because she's so consistent and doesn't ever slip up on her prep.

"She could probably play for any side in the world as a batter or as a bowler. She has all the cricket knowledge in the world, and she's able to share that in the dressing room."

South Africa will need more than Wolvaardt and Kapp to become the first team, male or female, from their country to win a senior World Cup. But they couldn't do it without them.