Cape Town - SA women’s cricketer Laura Wolvaardt's social media posts features plenty of photos showing off activities she undertakes in the outdoors.
There are plenty of her trail running, working out at the gym or swimming in the ocean. And that's only when she is not busy with favourite hobby, which is hitting cricket balls in the nets of course.
It's no wonder that Wolvaardt is ecstatic that she and the rest of her Proteas teammates are back out in the sun after spending the last week in quarantine in New Zealand ahead of next month's ICC Women’s World Cup.
"It feels super good to be out here on the turf. It was super boring in my room. The first two days we were in the indoor nets, so it's our first day out here. The wickets are pretty green, but they are nicer to bat on than what they look - is what i've seen so far," Wolvaardt said.
"It's just about getting the volume in again, especially after its been two weeks since our last series ended. I am kind of a volume player. I like to hit a lot of balls before a series. So, it’s about hitting a lot of balls."
Wolvaardt is an integral member of the Proteas squad that is aiming to become the first South African senior team to reach a major ICC tournament final.
Their form heading into the World Cup certainly bodes well with the Proteas having won successive series at home (Pakistan and West Indies) and away (India ) since the resumption of women's cricket post the T20 World Cup in Australia two years ago.
Wolvaardt, though, feels that the team are not feeling the pressure of expectation and are instead relishing the challenge in New Zealand.
"Everyone is super pumped. We had a couple of good games coming into this, so hopefully we can continue with that momentum," Wolvaardt said.
"We had a bit of a break from each other in the MIQ [managed isolation and quarantine], so everyone was super excited when we came out to see each other again. We have a really close knit group and hopefully we can take that camaraderie out on the field and put in good performances."
Wolvaardt will have an opportunity to fine-tune her preparations in the two warm-up matches against India (February 27) and England (March 2), before the much-anticipated tournament opener against Bangladesh at Dunedin's University Oval on March 5.
"I think those warm-up games are going to be crucial in terms of getting a feel for the conditions," Wolvaardt said. "It's all about getting in the motion again, getting the body moving again after being inside for so long.”