Batting is "sort of my job", Laura Wolvaardt told a press conference at the Wanderers on Wednesday. Even for one of the coolest, calmest, most collected figures in the game, that is an astonishing understatement.
For 70 minutes on the kind of Joburg evening when the cold bites into your bones, Wolvaardt warmed the small crowd with, even by her towering standards, a performance for the ages to score 115 off 53. That's a strike rate of 216.98.
Asked at the press conference that followed whether she used the innings to celebrate the Bachelor of Science degree she earned cum laude from the University of South Africa - a respected distance learning institution - in September, Wolvaardt seemed taken aback.
“Getting my degree? I got my degree a while ago; last year. That's done.”
Small wonder Wolvaardt was surprised at the question. Since the graduation ceremony, which was from May 26 to June 30, she has scored seven centuries and eight 50s in 34 white-ball international innings. She has reached 50 in almost half those trips to the crease and scored centuries in more than a fifth of them. That's a lot of success.
Which did she enjoy more: gaining her qualification or her innings on Wednesday?
"Both are pretty satisfying. The degree was a lot of hard work and a mission to do between cricket [commitments]. But I've worked hard [on the field] in, sort of, my job."
Wolvaardt reached her third T20I century off 47 - the fastest hundred in the format for South Africa. The 72/0 the home side made in the first six overs is their best powerplay score in the format. The opening stand of 183 Wolvaardt and Sune Luus shared off 92 is South Africa's highest stand for any wicket.
The 193/1 the home side scored to win with 21 balls to spare - and seal the five-match series with two games to spare - is their highest successful T20I chase.
Wolvaardt was there for 15.2 overs of all that. When she got out, to a slog sweep caught at deep midwicket, there were just 10 to get off those last 28 balls. Luus finished it with a mighty six over midwicket.
And another thing, the opposition weren't just anyone and they hadn't batted poorly. They were India, who scored 192/4 - their highest T20I total against South Africa.
Yet Wolvaardt made their attack, which bristled with Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy and Deepti Sharma - all among the top 10 ranked T20I bowlers in the world - look ordinary.
Wolvaardt lashed the first ball of the innings, from Renuka, through midwicket for four. Then she disappeared Kashvee Gautam for fours through extra cover, mid-on and cover in the second over. Renuka returned, and pitched the third ball too full outside off. Wolvaardt fired it flat through the icy air and over long-on for six.
A touch under three-quarters of her runs were hit in fours and sixes. That much we're used to. What stood out was that she scored almost as big a percentage of those runs on the leg side. Not just a pretty cover drive, then.
"I'm striking it nicely," Wolvaardt said. "Something I've been working on the last couple of years is my power-hitting, but [it's about] finding the balance between trying to whack it and still keep my strokes.
"I'm known for playing more traditional cricket, and sometimes I lose it a bit and try to hit the ball too hard and I lose my game. But I feel like I found the balance nicely tonight to keep my shapes and hit some big shots.
"Sometimes I feel I lose my cover drive and look to that power-hitting, muscling kind of thing. But the key is still my positioning. Yesterday in my training session I just hit cover drives on the ground. Because I feel if my positioning is good doing that, the rest of the game will take care of itself. Technically, I'm just trying to be in really strong positions; just trying to hit long through the ball."
