Wrap: Proteas return to winning ways, Australia, New Zealand maintain winning run

South Africa returned to winning ways after claiming a 69-28 victory over Trinidad & Tobago while Australia and New Zealand secured their fourth straight win at the Netball World Cup.

South Africa 69-28 Trinidad & Tobago

The Proteas got back on track with an easy win over Trinidad and Tobago on Monday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

The second stage of the Proteas’ game went smoothly, and they won 69-28 in front of a mostly empty CTICC.

The first quarter was a lot of fun. Ine-Mar Venter got the Proteas off to a great start by making 13 of 15 shots. South Africa won the quarter 18-12.

In the second quarter, the Proteas won because it was easy for them to find goal shooters Nichole Taljaard and Venter, who was having trouble and had lost her shooting range. The home team won the first quarter, 15–3.

Norma Plummer made changes when the Proteas had a comfortable 18-point lead. Elmere van der Berg replaced Venter, and Taljaard moved from goal attack to goal shooter.

This worked out when the other team came up against them. The two players worked well together with Khanyisa Chawane at wing attack, and the Proteas won the third quarter 18–6 to increase their lead.

In the last quarter, Taljaard and Van der Berg switched places to give Taljaard more freedom. Taljaard ended up scoring 24 goals out of 30 shots, which is 80 percent.

South Africa did a great job in the middle, where Bongi Msomi (16 points), Khanyisa Chawane (12 points), and Izette Griesel (11) all helped set up goals.

With seven minutes left, Owethu Ngubane replaced Taljaard at goal attack for her first World Cup game. Lenize Potgieter got hurt and had to leave the team, so Ngubane was called up.

In the last quarter, South Africa again dominated. They won the quarter 18-7, giving them a commanding 69-28 win to end the game.

South Africa’s next Pool G game will be on Wednesday at 16:00 against New Zealand.

Tonga 46-72 England

In their first match of the second stage of the Netball World Cup, England defeated Tonga 72-46 after a hard-fought battle.

Funmi Fadoju and Eleanor Cardwell were reinstated to the starting lineup after coming off the bench against Scotland, with the Goal Shooter making an immediate impression as England fought hard.

Tonga fought back at the end of the first quarter, leaving England with a less than comfortable 19-14 lead.

Cardwell and Helen Housby exchanged positions up front in the circle during the second quarter, and England increased their lead to 38-22 at the halftime break of a tense and physical match.

In the third quarter, Layla Guscoth and Jade Clark entered the fray, and although it was a much tighter 15 minutes, England showed their class to take a 54-36 lead with one quarter remaining.

England exerted significant effort in the fourth quarter, but Tonga’s physicality ensured a 72-46 victory.

Australia defeated Scotland by a score of 76-37, while the Silver Ferns defeated Wales by a score of 83-34. Jamaica also defeated Uganda 61-49, while hosts South Africa defeated Trinidad and Tobago 69-28.

Jamaica 61-49 Uganda

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have won four consecutive matches at the Netball World Cup, defeating Uganda 61-49 in their quarterfinal round opener on Monday in Cape Town.

At the conclusion of the first quarter, the gold medal favourites, the Jamaicans, held a 15-12 advantage. They subsequently increased their lead to 38-21 at the half.

Jhaniele Fowler, captain and goal shooter for the Sunshine Girls, had an outstanding first half, scoring 28 goals on 28 attempts.

She was ably assisted by goal attack Shanice Beckford, who scored 10 goals on 10 attempts.

At the start of the third quarter, however, Jamaica’s head coach Connie Francis made four substitutions, replacing Fowler with Romelda Aiken-George and Beckford with Rebekah Robinson in the attack.

Shamera Sterling was replaced by Kadie-Ann Dehaney as goalkeeper, and Adean Thomas was replaced by Nicole Rochester-Dixon in the centre position.

The moves cost the Jamaicans dearly, as they were outscored by the Ugandans 16-11, but they still maintained a 49-37 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Aiken-George finished the game with 15 goals on 15 shots, while both teams scored 12 goals in the fourth quarter, with the Sunshine Girls coming out on top.

Robinson scored eight goals on nine attempts for Jamaica. Mary Cholhok led the Ugandans in scoring with 28 goals on 33 shots.

Sri Lanka 52-55 Singapore

Singapore beat their Asian rivals Sri Lanka 52-55 in their Pool E clash at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town.

Singapore got off to a quick start. and in just over a minute, they were up 3-0. A lead they didn’t give up in the first quarter. After a run of four straight points, the lead went from 8-15 to 9-18. Sri Lanka had 6 general play mistakes, including 4 intercepted passes, while Singapore didn’t make any. At the end of the first quarter, Singapore was ahead 10-19.

Sri Lanka needed to change things, so Tharjini Sivalingam was replaced by Thishala Algama. Sri Lanka began to flow freely after the change, which showed how it affected things. By the fourth minute of the second quarter, it was 15-22. After two 5-0 runs at the end of the quarter, Sri Lanka went from being behind 17-25 to being ahead 22-25 and then 27-26 at half time.

Sri Lanka beat their opponents by a score of 17 to 7. Sri Lanka only had three turnovers and two interceptions, while Singapore had seven turnovers and three interceptions because of Sri Lanka.

Fiji 48-62 Malawi

Malawi beat Fiji 62–48 in Group F on Monday at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town, despite Fiji getting off to a fast start. The crowd was a big help.

The only other time Malawi and Fiji met at a Netball World Cup, in Christchurch in 1999, Malawi beat them 68-45.

In April 2023, at the Pacific-Aus Series on the Australian Gold Coast, the Queens beat the Pearls 54-47.

Midway through the first quarter, Joyce Mvula scored nine goals in a row without Fiji responding. This put Malawi ahead of Fiji.

At the other end of the court, defenders Jane Dambo and Towera Vinkhumbo were solid, giving the Fijian shooters no room to breathe.

At halftime, the Queens were ahead by a comfortable 36–23 margin.

Before the halftime break, Fiji coach Unaisi Rakoura made a few changes to try to stop Malawi from making good plays and give her team more energy.

In the second-to-last quarter, Fiji came out swinging, not wanting to give Malawi an easy win. In the third quarter, they tied with the Queens (11-11).

In the last 15 minutes, the Malawi Queen’s midfielders did a great job of controlling the ball and making more scoring chances while also making it harder for Fiji to counterattack.

Even though Fiji had more than half of the ball in the fourth quarter, Malawi had more of it overall, giving their shooters plenty of chances to keep the scoreboard moving.

Wales 34-83 New Zealand

As the Silver Ferns team took the court Monday to play Wales in the Netball World Cup, the news that goal shooter Grace Nweke will no longer be playing in the tournament in Cape Town was looming over them.

Nweke limped off the court with a knee injury during New Zealand’s match against Singapore on Sunday. At first, it seemed like the injury wasn’t too bad, but a day later, it was announced that Nweke had a partial tear in her patella tendon and that Tiana Metuarau, a travelling reserve, would be taking her place in the team.

Maia Wilson started the game against Wales as the goal shooter, and she did a great job. She made 29 out of 29 goals in the first half, giving the Silver Ferns a 40-16 lead at halftime.

She kept her perfect record going into the third quarter and helped New Zealand score 20 more goals, which earned her the Most Valuable Player award.

Metuarau played in her first Netball World Cup game when she took over for Ameliaranne Ekenasio with just over five minutes left in the third quarter. She looked right at home as the Ferns kept their lead.

Even though Wales did better in the fourth quarter and there were only six goals between the teams, the defending champions had no trouble finishing off the 83-34 win.

Zimbabwe 45-62 Barbados

Barbados defeated Zimbabwe 62-45 in Group E action during the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town.

At the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, Zimbabwe’s 66-41 victory gave them bragging rights, but this time it was the Bajan Gems’ turn to shine.

Initially, it appeared Zimbabwe would be able to keep up with their opponents, as the score was still within reach. However, a number of crucial interceptions and deflections frustrated Barbados, allowing them to pull away.

As the first 15 minutes came to a close, the Bajan Gems found their footing thanks to a string of goals scored by Kadeen Corbin.

In addition, Barbados deprived Zimbabwe of crucial possessions, a trend that continued into the second quarter.

Barbados entered the halftime break with a commanding lead of 35-16.

Zimbabwe performed significantly better in the second half, outscoring the Bajan Gems by two goals (29-27), but it was not enough to secure the victory.

Australia 77-37 Scotland

Australia and Scotland met for the tenth time at a Netball World Cup when the second stage of preliminary play began Monday morning at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

The Thistles were facing the 11-time world champions, who had scored 20 or more goals in all but one of their previous tournament quarters.

Scotland coached by Tamsin Greenway made a promising start to the game, displaying a high level of intensity.

The 10th-ranked team, however, struggled with consistency and quickly fell behind, trailing 21-9 at the first break to the Australians.

Australian captain Liz Watson replaced Jamie-Lee Price in the second quarter after the centre was cautioned at the end of the first, and Sunday Aryang replaced Jo Weston at goal defence, as Greenway made as many substitutions as possible to give as many players as possible the opportunity to compete against the top-ranked team in the world.

Goal attempt Sophie Garbin kept the scoreboard moving for the Diamonds, scoring 38 of Australia’s 43 goals at a 95 percent clip by halftime.

Scotland, as they did in their match against England on Sunday, enjoyed an impressive third quarter, limiting Australia to 15 goals while scoring 11 of their own.

At the beginning of the fourth period, the Thistles maintained their momentum by increasing their intensity, while the Diamonds’ play appeared to become somewhat sloppy as they appeared to take their foot off the gas.

The Diamonds quickly regained their footing and won the fourth quarter by nine goals, securing a 76-37 victory.