Laura Wolvaardt confirmed as full-time Proteas Women captain

Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday confirmed that Laura Wolvaardt will be the permanent captain of the Proteas Women in all three formats of the game.

Wolvaardt takes over the reins full-time after a successful tenure as interim captain during the recent tours against Pakistan and New Zealand. She led from the front with the bat, helping her team to back-to-back 2-1 ODI series victories.

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Wolvaardt, 24, took over from Sune Luus, who captained the SA women during the T20 World Cup earlier this year. Luus had stepped in for former skipper Dane van Niekerk, who struggled for form and fitness and subsequently retired.

Wolvaardt has already appeared in 86 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and 59 T20Is, scoring 3 421 runs with 30 fifties and four hundreds in the 50-over format. In T20s, she's scored 1 313 runs at an average of 32.82 with nine half-centuries. 

CSA, meanwhile, also named a 15-player T20 squad set to face Bangladesh on home soil.

In the T20I series, to be played from 3-8 December, Wolvaardt will oversee a squad blended with youth and experience. SA U19 and SA Emerging stars, Ayanda Hlubi and Eliz-Mari Marx, will also earn their maiden international call-ups in the shorter format. 

Returning to the national fold for the first time since injuring her hand during the winter is Garden Route Badgers all-rounder Annerie Dercksen, who gets a reward for solid performances at domestic and Emerging level at the start of the new season. 

Among the centrally contracted players not available for the T20I series are fast bowler Ayabonga Khaka (knee injury) and all-rounders Chloe Tryon (groin) and Nadine de Klerk (side strain). Meanwhile,