Baby SPAR Proteas came into match day five on a five-match winning streak and on Thursday faced neighbours Namibia who have won two of their three matches played to date.
Namibia enjoyed a rest day on Wednesday and they would be the fresher of the two teams while the Proteas were high on confidence following their win against Malawi last night.
To date, South Africa has been the most consistent and tactically disciplined of all the teams and they continued on that trajectory as they worked tirelessly in the first quarter to secure a 17-4 lead. Coach Precious Mthembu had indicated that her players were taking strain due to a series of back-to-back games and this was clear to see, however the team soldiered on into the second quarter and ended the half leading 33-9.
In the championship quarter, South Africa made a few substitutions to inject some fresh legs into the game. The defence of the hosts in Tshwane remained solid throughout the match, restricting their opponents to only eight goals per quarter in the last two as South African secured a well-merited victory 61-25.
“We had a pretty slow start to the game; you could see that the girls really took a beating – the bodies and legs are growing tired. Good thing we have rest day tomorrow so we can recover the bodies. I am grateful that we had a good win as well and massive congratulations to Namibia for a good game. I hear people saying that we have already qualified for the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 in Gibraltar and I am saying, we still one more game to play over the weekend, confirmations will only be made them, for now our feet are firmly on the ground,” said coach Mthembu post-match.
In the second match of the day, Zambia took on Malawi and it was Malawi that won the match 54-35 . Later in the day, Namibia played against Kenya and once again Namibia carried the tag of “Comeback Queens” very well after trailing the match for the better part of the game only for them to draw the match in the last second, 44-44.
Friday's Fixtures
12pm – Namibia v Zambia
2pm – Kenya v Tanzania
4pm – Malawi v Zimbabwe
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