Queens gear up for Fast5 Series

Malawi National Netball Team will tomorrow play New Zealand men and women’s teams as part of their preparation for the Fast5 World Netball Series.

The Fast5 Series, which featuees the world’s top-six teams New Zealand, Australia, England, Jamaica, South Africa and Malawi, throws off this Saturday at the Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Queens will play New Zealand men’s side in the morning before facing New Zealand women’s team in the afternoon.

In a telephone interview from Christchurch yesterday, Queens’ stand-in coach and Netball Association of Malawi technical director Samuel Kanyenda said the test matches will make up for inadequate preparations ahead of the world series.

The Queens, whose squad includes three new faces, travelled to New Zealand after just two days of camp training.

Kanyenda said the training matches will give the Queens a glimpse of the of the Fast5 tournament, which features modified netball rules that include the five-a-side games, shorter quarters, power plays and super shots.

“It is important for us to have these training games as they will give us the real test of the Fast5 Series. They will help our players, some of whom are having their first call-up, adapt to world-class facilities and acclimatise,” he said

The team trained on concrete surface at the Bingu National Stadium during residential camp in Lilongwe, an environment not right in preparing for international games which are played on sprung floor.

Meanwhile, senior player Joyce Mvula has appealed to the fans to have faith in the team.

“It’s a changed team, but we have the capabilities to do well. The new players have made a smooth transition in the team. We just want Malawians to have faith and rally behind us,” she said.

The best Malawi has performed at the Fast5 was finishing third during the 2016 edition. Australia-based Mwawi Kumwenda, who is not part of the squad, was top scorer during the tournament.