“It’s something I’ve been working towards my entire cricketing career,” said Laura Wolvaardt in response to climbing to No 1 on the ICC Women’s ODI rankings as a result of her fantastic form in the World Cup.

Ever since she made her debut at 16, Wolvaardt has matured, grown and evolved as a cricketer. We watched her join the pressure environment as a kid and continue to flourish.

Her ability to find gaps, particularly with her beautiful signature cover drive, has been a privilege to watch and she has won the world over with her incredible timing and text-book technique.

This World Cup, she’s continued where she has left off. She’s topped the scoring charts after the group stages with 433 runs, 5 fifties in seven innings at an average of 61.85 including a top score of 90.

Wolvaardt now averages 46.26 in her 73 ODI’s for South Africa, amazing for a player that is only 22 with plenty of games ahead of her.

This has taken her to the top of the ICC rankings.

“I first saw the news 5 mins ago (22:50 pm NZL Time), Mignon (Du Preez) showed me the photo,” Wolvaardt said to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“It’s really crazy, I never really believed it, I had to go online and look at the rankings myself.

“For me, it’s something I’ve been working towards my entire cricketing career and to achieve it now is crazy; and what a cool time to do it as well, during a World Cup.

“The challenge moving forward is to try and stay there and try to stay at the top of my game. What’s nice is there is still so much I want to add to my game, to be better at and achieve more. In that sense, it’s quite cool, because there’s still room for me to improve.

“It’s such a massive thing (achievement) I’m really honoured and happy.”