The Gauteng Fireballs made it two out of two wins today after beating the Free State Crinums 39-34. Both teams went into this game with boosted confidence following their opening games victory and it was quite evident in the first quarter when the score was 9 all.
Fireballs Goalkeeper- Juzelri Garbers was forced off the field three minutes into the game and was replaced by Melanie De Lange but that did not hinder the Fireballs performance as they went into the half time break with a 21-18 lead.
The Gauteng side gave away so many balls in the shooting circle in the beginning of the third quarter but Tshinakaho Mdau’s intercepts, Talja Venter’s accurate shooting and Bongiwe Msomi’s player of the match performance contributed immensely to the team’s overall success.
Fireballs coach, Dumisani Chauke said, ”We watched ourselves and we picked up on the stuff we can improve on. Today we focused on making sure that we start and finish strong, taking each centre pass at a time and each quarter at a time which will give us the end result’.”
Crinums coach, Burta du Kock spoke about how her side needs to move on from the defeat, ”This is the beginning of the marathon, so we will go home and go back to the drawing board. I just think that the players need to explore netball, must capitalize on each and every ball, protect the ball and at the end of the day they need to enjoy and embrace netball.”
In Division B, the Mpumalanga Sunbirds and the Northern Cape Diamonds got their 2020 TNL campaign underway today. It was a very tightly contested match between the two teams, but the Sunbirds came out victorious with a 35-30 win. Last year the Mpumalanga team only won three of their eight matches and the Diamonds lost all their games. The Sunbirds and the Diamonds will both be in action again tomorrow afternoon against the Aloes and Baobabs, respectively.
Meanwhile, it was another bad day at the office for the North West Flames as they suffered their second successive defeat against the Western Cape Stings following a 27-39 defeat. However, Stings coach, Annelie Lucas was all smiles after their first win, ”I think the girls worked hard for it, they were hungry for a win today especially after yesterday’s loss,” said Lucas after the game.
Evening Fixtures
The Kingdom Stars are yet to find that elusive victory in the Telkom Netball League following their second consecutive defeat against the defending champions- the Gauteng Jaguars. A battle of last year’s Division one and two winners concluded with the Gauteng side beating the newly promoted side 42-25.
The Stars had the opportunity to bounce back having had 18 turn overs in the game but could not utilize them to their advantage. The Jaguars shooters had their shooting boots on with a goal percentage of 82 which steered them to a 17-goal difference victory.
Stars coach, Bonisiwe Thabethe conceded that her team is finding it hard to adjust to the new division, ‘’These are the first two games of division one, and we are hoping to adapt maybe in the third game. I must admit, we made a lot of mistakes here and there and lacked concentration during the game.’’
Thabethe also went on to say that she is expecting a very tough encounter against the Flames tomorrow, ‘’It will be a tough one for us because we have to concentrate more, we need to sit down and analyze what it is we are doing wrong and also analyze the flames to see where can we capitalizes as a team’’.
In the other match, the Limpopo Baobabs were hoping to secure a win with the same starting seven that lost against the Kingdom Queens in their opening game yesterday but failed to produce a performance that could yield results after losing 41-25 to the Aloes today. Tomorrow is another opportunity for the Baobabs to redeem themselves when they play against the Northern Cape Diamonds.
Day two wrapped up with the Fireballs beating the SPAR U/21 TNL side 38-30. It has been a great day for Dumisani Chauke’s side who also won the first match of the day against the Free State Crinums. U/21 coach- DR Elsje Jordaan made 17 changes in the game to try out different combinations and give all the players a chance to play.
Thursday Results:
Fireballs 39 Crinums 34
Diamonds 30 Sunbirds 35
Stings 39 Flames 27
Stars 25 Jaguars 42
Baobabs 25 Aloes 41
Fireballs 38 SA U21 30
Friday Fixtures:
09:00 Kingdom Stars v NW Flames
11:00 Tornados v Kingdom Queens
13:00 Gauteng Jaguars v Golden Fireballs
15:00 Limpopo Baobabs vs NC Diamonds
17:00 EC Aloes v MP Sunbirds
19:00 Kingdom Stars v SPAR U21 TNL Team
Photo 1 Caption: Golden Fireballs Co-Captain Bongiwe Msomi with Free State Crinums Sne Mdletshe. Photo: Thuligraphy Images
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