Queens end Jamaica dominance
Enough is enough. Malawi national netball team ended Jamaica’s dominance over the Queens with an emphatic 46-12 victory over the Caribbean Islands side at the ongoing Fast5 Netball Series in Melbourne, Australia.
The victory is the first ever for Malawi against Jamaica, thanks largely to 16 goals from 20 attempts shot by star shooter Mwawi Kumwenda.
It also restored the Queens coach Griffin Saenda’s ambitious plans of finishing in top four after earlier defeats to Australia (24-23) and England (43-22) dampened the team’s spirits.
Malawi starting five had shooter Kumwenda goal attacker Thandie Galeta, goadefender Grace Mwafulirwa and goalkeeper Towera Vinkhumbo.
With, the future looking bleak following the first two losses, Malawi started strong against Jamaica in the first quarter, dominating both ends of the court.
The Queens were leading 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. Jamaica continued to struggle under the intense pressure from the Malawians with Kumwenda leading the onslaught.
She shot eight goals from 10 attempts to lead the charge for Malawi, extending their lead to nine points, with an 11-2 score line at half time.
Malawi also managed to keep Jamaica in check during their power play to keep an eight point advantage heading into the final quarter.
The Queens used their power play to punish a tired Jamaican team, scoring 28 points with the advantage to blow the score out to a 46-12 win.
After the game, Kumwenda said the first two losses spurred them to work hard.
“We lost a couple of games so we decided this game we needed to work hard and fight for every ball. We needed to go out knowing we don’t have a lot of time as the game can change quickly, so mix it up and go for the long shots. Our coach asked us to fight hard and give everything,” Fast5 website quoted Kumwenda.
After day one matches the hosts lead the table with a 100 percent record having won all their three matches.
New Zealand are second with a single loss to the hosts while England is third with two wins and one draw against table-anchoring South Africa.
Malawi’s Queens are fourth position followed by Jamaica and South Africa on fifth and fourth positions.
The top four teams will progress to the finals to be played today. The top team will play the fourth-placed side while the second ranked team with play the third-placed team.
The winners of these two matches will qualify for the grand final while the remaining teams will contest in the third place and fifth place play-offs.
Day One Results
Australia 24-23 Malawi
South Africa 32-35 Jamaica
New Zealand 36-55 England
Australia 35-19 Jamaica
England 43-22 Malawi
New Zealand 49-20 South Africa
Jamaica 12-46 Malawi
England 29- 29 South Africa
Australia 32-29 New Zealand
Day Two fixtures
Malawi vs South Africa 3:15am
Australia vs England 4am
New Zealand vs Jamaica 4:45am
Australia vs South Africa 5:30am
New Zealand vs Malawi 6:15am
Jamaica vs England 7am
5th/ 6th place 8:45am
3rd / 4th place 9:35am
Final 10:25am
How They Stand
Pld L D W Pts
Australia 3 0 0 3 6
New Zealand 3 1 0 2 4
England 3 1 1 1 3
Malawi 3 2 0 1 2
Jamaica 3 2 0 1 2
South Africa 3 2 1 0 1
