Despite the loss in the final in Dubai, Wolvaardt acknowledges that they had a successful tournament, one in which they got to understand that as a team, they have what it takes to win high-pressure World Cup games.

“I think we played really well as a team. I think we really show up as a team in those big tournaments when it matters, so that’s great to see that we have a big, you know, fighting spirit and a lot of resilience in the group,” she said.

“So, I’m looking forward to seeing that coming out in the (ODI) World Cup as well. I’m not too sure what I would have done differently.”

With the ODI World Cup, it is not only a completely different format to the T20 World Cup, but the tournament itself is structured differently in that every team plays every team before the playoffs stage of the competition is decided.

Wolvaardt told Independent Media that the structure of the tournament will pose its challenges.

“It is very different this time, the ODI World Cup: you know, different format, different pressures,” she said.

“Usually we play against every team once instead of having the group stages where you just have to beat a few people in your group and you can go through.

“I think this one (T20 World Cup) is a little bit more cutthroat, whereas, you know, (the ODI World Cup) is a bit more fair, I guess, where you play against everyone. 

“So, we have a lot more different teams to prepare for. That’ll be a bit different. A lot more preparation to be done before, plans-wise.

“Physically, I think it’s a very long tournament, so to stay fresh and fit for the whole tournament is a bit of different preparation.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity, and hopefully we can start preparing as early as we can to make sure our plans are nice and sound and solid.

“I think also in the T20 World Cup, we played every game with the same team, which I’m not sure if in India that’ll be possible to play, you know, 10 ODIs back-to-back.

“So, I think if we can try and get as much depth in the group before then as we can, it’ll be quite important.”

The Proteas Women are set to go into camp early next month in preparation for the tour to Sri Lanka, with the first match against India on April 29.

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EXCLUSIVE | Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt: We have the fighting spirit for World Cup success