Netball World Cup: SA beat Trinidad & Tobago, Zimbabwe fall to Barbados

By Supersport

South Africa comfortably beat Trinidad & Tobago 69-28 in their first pool G match at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town. They had to do it without goal shooter Lenize Potgieter, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a knee injury. The Proteas have a rest day on Tuesday before their big test against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Barbados scored their first victory of the tournament when they beat Zimbabwe 62-45 in a pool E encounter. Zimbabwe would rue their chances and opportunities in the first half of the match as they outscored Barbados in the last two quarters. Barbados’ next opponents are Singapore while Zimbabwe face Sri Lanka.

Malawi’s higher world ranking showed in their convincing 62-48 win over Fiji in a pool F match. While Fiji had more than 50 per cent of the ball in the last quarter, it was Malawi who had the better of possession throughout the match, giving their shooters enough chances to keep the scoreboard ticking over. On Tuesday, Malawi take on Australia while Fiji are up against England.

Uganda suffered their third World Cup loss against Jamaica when they went down 49-61

in a pool G match. It was a disappointing result for the She Cranes who gave world champions New Zealand a scare on day two, losing by only 10 points. Uganda are up against Wales on Wednesday.

Australia remained unbeaten when they defeated Scotland 77-37 in pool F. This was the Diamonds’ lowest total at the World Cup. The coaching staff made 18 changes throughout the match to give all the players enough game time and test combinations ahead of what is an almost guaranteed semifinal spot for the world No 1.

World champions New Zealand took to court without shooter Grace Nweke but that didn’t faze them as they easily beat Wales 83-34 in their pool G clash. Nweke is out of the World Cup with a knee injury and was replaced by Tiana Metuarau.

With only a five-goal lead after the first quarter and winning the third quarter by just two goals in their pool F match, England eventually ran out 72-46 victors over Tonga. In the end, it was the Roses’ slick handling and speed that pulled it through.

Singapore recorded their first win of the World Cup when they beat Sri Lanka 55-52. This time the roles were reversed as in the previous tournament in 2019 in Liverpool, Sri Lanka beat their opponents by 21 goals.