Laura Wolvaardt's third century sees Proteas produce their best batting performance of the series

Johannesburg — Laura Wolvaardt scored her third One-Day International hundred, helping the Proteas to produce their best batting performance of the series against the West Indies here on Thursday.

This wasn’t a free flowing, cover-drive laden, stylish exhibition for which she is known. Rather the 22 year old had to get her hands dirty, scrambling singles, running hard to make twos, while the boundaries she did pick up came via flicks through the leg-side, or deflections behind square on the off-side.

It was a different side to Wolvaardt, and it would undoubtedly have pleased her to know and show that she is capable of producing substantive innings even when she’s not at her elegant best.

The West Indies certainly tried hard not to give her anything in her half. They immediately shut down her favourite cover drive as a boundary option by placing a fielder on the ropes from the start of the innings, and the bowlers kept their lines very straight.

South Africa’s batters were noticeably more aggressive at the start of the innings after Sune Luus chose to bat. Tazmin Brits wacked four boundaries in an innings of 18 that lasted just 13 balls, while Anneke Bosch, one of three changes to the starting line-up from the first two matches of the series, tried to thump every ball not aimed at the stumps, but quickly ran out of luck after scoring just 5.

With two wickets down by the seventh over, Luus and Wolvaardt decided to rein matters in; the scoring slowed appreciably for 10 overs while the pair sought to build a platform. The hard work they put in during the period brought reward as the South Africans gradually turned the momentum of the innings in their favour.

Luus’s ninth ODI half-century was certainly not her most fluent,