Malawi Queens were last night ruthlessly swept aside and relentlessly torn apart by South Africa’s Spar Proteas with a 65-35 scoreline in their second Africa Netball Championship Group A match in Swakopmund, Namibia.
The yawning 30-margin gap underlined the gulf in class and stature as the South Africans imposed their dominance against a side that used to stand toe-to-toe with them almost a decade a ago.
Despite taking back on board experienced coaches Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa and Mary Waya as well as revered players Takondwa Lwazi-Chiwaya and Grace Mwafulirwa in the starting line-up, the Queens never looked remotely capable of challenging the might of their once fierce rivals.
To their credit though, Malawi started at full throttle and were level 7-7 midway the first quarter, but once the Proteas had their foot on the gas pedal, they never looked back in a match monitored on SuperSport television.
Led by their towering England-based goal shooter Elmere Van Der Berg, who appeared more like a ballerina as she netted one basket after the other with just a swing of her arm, the South Africans led 14-9 in the first quarter and were 33-17 down at interval.
But a half-time pep talk appeared to have energised the Queens who played with a bit more purpose, forcing South Africa on the back foot, but were still guilty of turn overs and giving away possession far too cheaply.
The Queens, who have never beaten the Proteas since 2015, nine years to be precise in a conventional match, trailed 51-27 in the third quarter and by the time the umpire blew the final whistle, it was 65-35.
In an interview after the match, Waya said they started the game well, but blamed the loss on turnovers.
She said: “We made a lot of turn overs that prevented us from scoring many baskets. We also need to work on our fitness, movement and be fast in thinking.
“So, we’ll work in all these areas tomorrow [today] so that we can do well against Kenya and qualify for the semis.”
Malawi, who are second in the group with two points following their 52-39 victory over Zambia in their first match, face minnows Kenya tomorrow in their last group match while the Proteas will line up against Zambia.
