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Waya happy with Queens performance

Malawi Queens co-coach Mary  Waya says she is happy with the team’s performance after clobbering the British Army Netball Team 98-24 on Wednesday in a warm-up clash ahead of this weekend’s Vitality Nations Netball Cup (Quad Series) in Nottingham, United Kingdom (UK).

The Queens led 23-5 in the first quarter before increasing their tally to 47-9, 70-15 and 98-24 in the subsequent segments.

However, the coach played down the thumping victory saying their focus is on what the Queens have benefitted from the match.

The clash was the only strength-testing match for world netball’s seventh-ranked Queens before they take on fourth-ranked hosts England in their opening Quad Series match tomorrow.

 Malawi will also compete against fellow Africans in fifth-ranked South Africa and sixth-ranked Uganda.

Said Waya: “What we were looking for from the warm-up match was to observe our coordination and team play. We wanted to see if our improvised system could work.

“We are happy because it appears there is a great improvement in terms of our play. We have upped our game on passes, communication and shooters’ reaction.

“Of course, we misplaced passes but we had a few turnovers. We told the players not to make more than five turnovers per quarter and we are happy they played according to plan.”

However, she said although they won the game, fatigue seemed to have affected their overall performance.

“Fatigue took its toll on us because we had just arrived in the UK and we had not yet adapted to the weather condition. However, we are confident that we will make big improvements as we start our series matches this Saturday,” said Waya.

In the warm-up match, the Queens started with a shooting duo of Tendai Masamba and Ethel Ng’ambi before UK-based shooter Joyce Mvula replaced Masamba, who was shifted to the defence.

Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) vice-general secretary Charity Gondwe on Thursday said they did not opt for a stronger side to help the Queens’ preparations because “we just wanted the national netball team to be in the mood for the series”.

According to the UK Armed Forces News website www.forcesnews.com, the Queens put up a dominant performance and were a hard nut to crack for the British Army team.

“[Malawi Queens] pedigree was evident from the very start of the game, leading the Army 5-23 after the first quarter. Their on-court dominance continued in the second quarter as the Malawian side grew their advantage to 9-47 at half time,” reads part of the article on the website.

“The Army knew they had a mountain to climb if they wanted to get close to the elite Malawian side, as the reds trailed Malawi 15-70 heading into the fourth and final quarter.”

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