Times Of Swaziland: GALLANT ESWATINI NETBALL TEAM LOSE TO MALAWI

GALLANT ESWATINI NETBALL TEAM LOSE TO MALAWI
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Pholsile Hlophe on 23/08/2022 09:09:00


MBABANE – Eswatini national netball team’s chances of qualifying for the
Netball World Cup were dented.
The national team suffered their first defeat in the hands of African giants in
Malawi. Malawi’s Queens survived a scare from the spirited Eswatini side to
win 69-50. The game was played yesterday in Pretoria. The city plays host to the
African Qualifiers for next year’s world Cup. Following the setback, the
Eswatini national outfit are now playing catch-up and hope to turn the tables
when they face Zambia today at noon. Coach Nhlahla ‘Friction’ Mayisela’s
ensemble were up for the challenge, despite their minimal exposure to
international games since their  Singapore Nations Cup over three years ago,
while the opposition, who are ranked sixth in the world, had an advantage and a
world record from the Commonwealth Games where they beat second highest ranked
team in the world, New Zealand.
improved
Eswatini was chasing 5-0 in the first five minutes of the first quarter and with
improved shot passes plus pace, gifted goal shooter (GS) Vumile Vilakati netted
five goals but could not match Malawi and ended the first 15 minutes of play
with a 19-11 score. Malawi took charge of the two mid-quarters, stretching their
lead to 35-24 after the second quarter and dominated the third to make it 54-37.
Malawi was not wasteful at goal and proved their dominance in the last quarter,
scoring 11 goals, while Eswatini only managed to net five. Pressure mounted for
Eswatini in the last five minutes where they were trailing by 20 goals after
reaching 44 goals against Malawi’s 64. Goalkeeper (GK) Philile Khatwane
changed her position to goal defender (GD) and Nomcebo Malambe filled in her
shoes, while centre player Captain Abigail Simelane made way for Cebile
Sibandze. Introducing Vuysile Thusi as a goal attacker (GA) was a wise move for
Eswatini as they managed to add six more goals to make it 50 and finished their
game 19 goals short from the Queens’ who massed a total of 69 goals.
attempts
The statistics of the game reflected that Malawi missed only two shots, netting
69 of 71 attempts and Eswatini missed eight. The goal percentage was in favour
of Malawi who sat at 97 per cent and Eswatini 86. The local team completed 73
passes and ‘The Queens’ had 70. Impressed by their opening performance
despite the defeat, Mayisela commended his team’s efforts, saying the girls
surprised all of them. “We did not expect them to deliver such a good
performance. They stuck to our plan and were effective when we made
substitutions. I hope they are going to play better in our next game.”
The captain said: “Looking at our first game, we played well and managed to
match Malawi’s standard, although in theory are better than us. We also
managed to keep the goal difference below 20. If we maintain the same spirit in
the next two games, we will win and qualify for the next stage,” she said. At
the end of the pool stage, the first-placed team in each pool will play the
second-placed team of the other pool, with the winners playing each other in the
final. The remaining teams will play each other to determine third to ninth
place. The top two teams of the tournament, excluding South Africa, will qualify
for the Netball World Cup next year.