Spar Proteas Maintain Clean Sweep Against Barbados

The 11th meeting between Spar Proteas and Barbados went according to South Africa who have never lost a match against their opponents. South Africa went into this game wanting to redeem themselves after their opening loss against Jamaica on Saturday and Barbados also looked at changing their fortunes around following their loss against Australia on Friday.

South Africa’s head coach Dorette Badenhorst made wholesome changes to the team that started against Jamaica. The selected players stepped up and took the game to Barbados. The game was very physical, and this kept umpires very busy as they blew their whistles quite often.

South Africa ran a very tight ship and made sure that Barbados do not score more than ten goals per quarter, and they maintained a fourteen-point gap lead in the first quarter and won it 23 – 9.

Dorette Badenhorst brought in Nicola Smith in the place of Phumza Maweni and Elmere van der Berg to replace Ine-Mari Venter both in the second quarter – both players were very solid with van der Berg converting at over 90% in this game. South Africa continued to take charge of the game and maintained their lead, they finished the second quarter leading 43 – 18.

South Africa continued with their dominance in both the third and final quarter – even with new players coming on, the team maintained their place and lead. Nicole Taljaard joined the club as she made her Commonwealth Games debut when she came on during the championship quarter and it took her less than 90 seconds before registering her name on the score sheet.

It was South Africa that clinched crucial maximum points at the end of the day as they won the match 91 – 36. This is a big win for South Africa and great morale booster as they get ready to face Australia on Monday, 1 August 2022.        

South Africa Starting Seven:

Ine-Mari Venter (GS); Lefebre Rademan (GA); Tshina Mdau (WD); Khanyisa Chawane (C); Izette Griesel (WA); Zanele Vimbela (GD); Phumza Maweni (GK)

Score Breakdown:

Q1 South Africa 23 – 9 Barbados

Q2 South Africa 43 – 18 Barbados

Q3 South Africa 66 – 27 Barbados

Q4 South Africa 91 – 36 Barbados

Photo 1 Caption: #SparProteas defeat Barbados 91-36 to secure their first win at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Sunday, 31 July 2022. The South Africans will face Australia in their third match on Monday, 1 August. Photo: Team South Africa (Twitter)