We are three days away away from the start of the Netball World Cup and the Proteas will be hard at work finishing off their preparations for the tournament.
South Africa take on Wales in their opening game at 4pm on Friday the 28th of July. Their second game will be against Sri Lanka on Saturday at 6pm, and their final group game will be against the dark horses Jamaica on Sunday at 6pm.
The Proteas are currently ranked fifth in the World and their Caribbean opponents Jamaica are fourth, meaning a closely-fought contest is on the cards.
Australia top the world rankings and also the have the most World Cup titles - 11 to be exact. New Zealand, meanwhile, are the reigning world champions.
Here are the groups:
Pool A: Australia, Tonga, Zimbabwe, and Fiji.
Pool B: England, Malawi, Scotland and Barbados.
Pool C: Jamaica, South Africa, Wales and Sri Lanka.
Pool D: New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad & Tobago and Singapore.
The tournament will consist of three stages, beginning with two group stages. The initial group stage runs from Friday until Sunday. At the end of the first stage, each team in a group is ranked from 1 to 4.
The teams from group A and B who end top will then move on to Group F.
Teams in group C and D will them make up group G, and the same rules apply to their rankings in the next round.
The Proteas are in group C. The teams from the groups will also be re-ranked for the next round depending on where they finished. South Africa are expected to end either top of their group or at least end second. This means they will then be classed as G1 or G2. Bear in mind this will now determine their spot in the second group stage.
The teams who end bottom here will form Group E.
During these two stages teams are still able to draw matches.
The third stage is ‘the business end ‘of the tournament as teams must get results in this round.
These matches take place from Monday to Thursday next week.
This is where the top four teams in the Group F and G will go on to compete in the semi-finals of the competition.
The semi-finals take place on the Saturday August 5, the first one at 11am and the second at 4pm.
The teams will then battle it out and the final rankings will be determined from first to 16th place by the conclusion of the event.
The final will be at 6pm, the closing ceremony and medal presentation will take place after the game on the August 6.
IOL Sport