South Africa got back to winning ways with a convincing 69-28 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in their first Super Six Netball World Cup match at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday.
The home team, who were without the injured Lenize Potgieter, got back to winning ways after going down to Jamaica the previous day.
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However, there were nerves early on when Trinidad and Tobago were quickest out of the blocks and were first on the scoreboard.
That did not last long as Ivette Griesel and Ine-Mari Venter got the scoreboard ticking over for Norma Plummer’s team. Venter was back in the starting line-up after playing off the bench against the Jamaicans.
Trinidad and Tobago’s goal scorer Afeisha Noell was certainly making making SA work for everything with her presence on court.
Venter showed her class, and with her regular scoring, the home side was able to end the first quarter with a six goal advantage.
Q1 SA 18 -12 T&T
With Nicola Smith struggling with high penalty count, Plummer began to make changes, bring in on Phumza Maweni in the second quarter.
Trinidadian GK Daystar Swift was in impressive form and making things hard for Venter. But the South African star was soon back scoring as the quarter went on.
The overalll pace of the game started to slow down as the island nation started making regular handling errors. By the end of the second quarter, the Proteas’ dominance was clear and they led 33-15.
Q2 33- 15 T&T
Elmere’ van der Berg, Khanyisa Chawane and Jeante’ Strydom made their entrance in the third quarter as Plummer wanted to press their dominance with fresh legs.
Chawane made an impact immediately after coming on for captain Bongi Msomi, helping the Proteas continue their dominance. This helped them add more points to the board, and saw them up 51-21.
Q3 SA 51 -21
Msomi made a return to centre as South Africa looked to finish strongly.
In the end, South Africa got their campaign back on track with a dominant 69-28 victory.
The performance came at the perfect time for Plummer’s team, whose next game in the tournament will be against reigning world champions New Zealand at 6pm on Wednesday.
IOL Sport