The Malawi Queens will battle for Africa Netball Championship bronze today against Namibia after going down 62-46 to champions South Africa’s Spar Proteas yesterday in the semi-finals at Moi International Sports Complex in Nairobi, Kenya.
Led by the legendary Australia-based goal shooter Mwawi Kumwenda-M’bwana, Malawi rolled up their sleeves and took the bit between their teeth in the first quarter in which they matched the champions pound-for-pound to tie 14-all.
There was no hint of nerves from the predominantly youthful Malawian side and they continued to give the Proteas a good run until towards the end of second quarter when they appeared to lose steam.
They went into recess trailing 30-25.
In the third quarter, the Malawi National Netball Team appeared out of sorts and South Africa took advantage of their lapse in concentration to turn on the heat with their lanky goal shooter Rolene Strentker converting baskets with remarkable ease.
On the other hand, Mwawi also kept the baskets flowing but the supply lines were shut out for the better parts of the match by the South Africans who led 44-35 going into the last quarter before winning the match by a 16-basket margin.
Queens’ expatriate coach Debbie Fuller said her charges lost the plot after an impressive start.
She said: “I thought the first two quarters were excellent. We were connected in defence and we were able to score with open ball and play in our attack.
“In the third quarter, we just got completely disconnected, we were outclassed by South Africa and full credit to them.
“South Africa had a good strategy and basically they have given us a great lesson on what it means to be in the top six. We didn’t work hard enough in the second half.”
Her Proteas counterpart Jenny Van Dyk said: “Malawi came out guns blazing in the first quarter and we really felt the pressure. Both teams had so much discipline.
“But we came out strongly in the last two quarters to dominate the match.”
South Africa face Uganda in the final today.
