[ad_1]
The Netball Africa Cup will come to a head this afternoon when the only two remaining unbeaten teams, South Africa and Uganda lock horns.
The winner will take a big step towards securing the African title, although it will not be completely done yet, as Malawi could still come in through the back door, if they beat Uganda in their final match tomorrow.
At this stage, though, South Africa have been setting the pace with some superb performances and a huge goal difference which is far superior to the other contenders and they certainly seem set to retain the title that they won in 2019.
On Saturday, South Africa notched up their fifth consecutive victory after beating Botswana 85-24.
South Africa were in control from the start, winning the first quarter 23-5, while they went 44-8 ahead by the second and 62-18 by the third quarter.
Goal shooters Elmare van den Berg and Ine-Mari Venter were in fine form in front of goals, while Simone Rabie and Monique Reynecke shone in defence and Bongi Msomi and Khanyisa Chawane in midfield.
South Africa were due to play Zambia in the late match yesterday, but their victory over Botswana put them on top of the log on 10 points from five matches and with a +228 points difference.
Uganda, meanwhile, beat Zimbabwe 74-47 on Saturday to join South Africa on 10 points from five matches, although their goal aggregate was well below that of South Africa, at +109.
Against Zimbabwe they took a decisive 24-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and gradually pulled away to 41-23 by the second quarter. Zimbabwe made a fine comeback in the third quarter to narrow the deficit to 54-38, but Uganda reasserted their dominance in the fourth quarter to win by 27 points.
Malawi also have an outside chance of winning the title despite going down 56-39 to South Africa on Friday.
In a great encounter, South Africa took a 14-11 lead by the end of the first quarter, while they held a narrow 25-22 lead by the second quarter.
Malawi, however, lost their discipline and composure when some refereeing decisions went against them in the third quarter, and South Africa took a decisive 41-29 lead, to effectively seal their win.
Malawi captain Carol Ngwira blamed the umpires after the match.
“The umpires were biased and not fair. We made some silly mistakes, but the umpires played a big role in our loss, but we will work on our mistakes and fix them for the upcoming matches. I don’t think we can win the tournament any more, so now we will have to battle for the second position,” she said.
Malawi were lying third on the log on eight points from five matches by Saturday.
Namibia, meanwhile, had to pull out all the stops before beating Tanzania 40-37 on Saturday.
Namibia held a narrow 8-7 lead by the end of the first quarter, while they went 19-15 ahead by the second.
They seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory when they went 30-22 ahead by the third quarter, but Tanzania made a stirring comeback in the final quarter to eventually lose the match by a mere three points.
That victory put Namibia fourth on the log on six points from five matches.
Zimbabwe joined them on six points after a thrilling 54-53 victory against Zambia on Saturday.
With fortunes swinging to and fro, Zimbabwe went ahead 14-13 by the end of the first quarter, but Zambia took a 28-25 lead by the second. By the third quarter Zambia were leading 40-39, but Zimbabwe finished stronger to win the match by a solitary point.
Zambia were lying sixth on four points, followed by Kenya on two points, and Botswana and Tanzania on zero points each.
[ad_2]
Source link