Bad c’wealth games start

Malawi Queens yesterday  began their 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign on a bad note after going down 66-41 to hosts and defending champions England’s Vitality Roses in their Group B opening match.

Interestingly, a 25-basket difference has been maintained just  as in their last meeting during the 2018 Commonwealth, the Queens lost 74-49 to the Roses.

Malawi coach Peace Chawinga-Kalua hopes to make amends this afternoon when they face Northern Ireland in their second fixture before taking on New Zealand tomorrow.

Yesterday, the Queens were on the back foot from the first whistle; trailing 19-9 in the first quarter before the tally increased to 35-20 and 48-33 in the subsequent segments.

With Australia-based shooter Mwawi Kumwenda improvised as a goal attacker to partner New Zealand-bound Joyce Mvula, the Queens struggled under the loop. The duo tried hard to find their combination but it hardly worked, forcing Chawinga-Kaluwa to pull-out Mwawi for Jane Chimaliro at the start of the second segment.

But that was well understood; after four years of not playing together in national colours due to Mwawi’s 2019 injury and club commitments, it was not an easy task for the duo.

Defenders England-based Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda, Martha Dambo and captain Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira managed to intercept a number of balls while centre Takondwa Lwazi-Mtonga and wing-attacker Bridget Kumwenda played some excellent attacking netball with crispy feeds up front.

However, only a few scoring chances were converted.

England’s height advantage was all over, haunting the Queens. While the Roses’ tall defenders easily thwarted most of the Queens’ attacks, only a number of Malawi’s attacks penetrated the English defence.

Despite that, the third quarter was the best for the Queens. Mwawi was re-introduced as goal attacker, replacing Chimaliro and she finally built a perfect combination with Mvula, who was very strong at holding and moving into the space to score.

It was just unfortunate that at Queens’ spirited performance in the segment only helped them to maintain a 15 basket margin after each side scored 13 baskets. Surely, it was a well-contested quarter between the two sides.

The Queens then appeared out of sorts in the final quarter, in which the Roses dominated play. At one point, Malawi were down to six players and could not mount any attack after Mvula was penalised for time wasting. There was confusion on which sub was coming on.