South Africa and Malawi drew the first Test in the three-match SPAR Challenge netball series 45-all on Saturday afternoon, in a game described as riddled with errors by the home side.
The South Africans struggled with their combinations, and coach Burta de Kock had to make a number of changes, particularly in the first two quarters, but the team settled down after halftime, and remained unchanged for the third and fourth quarters.
But credit to the rather arrogant and spirited Malawian team, whose “unusual” and unique style of play had South Africa on their toes from start to finish.
Most of the home side’s mistakes came in the centre court, and the South Africans sometimes struggled to get the ball to the goal. Neither side was able to dominate play, and at times were matching each other goal for goal.
One side would pull ahead – Malawi led by four goals at one stage – but the other team always surged back to stay in the game.
“We need to do a lot of work in the attack,” said South African captain Bronwyn Bock-Jonathan. “The defence fought like tigers, but it was in attack that we didn’t do too well.
“But I’m very proud of the players. They have only been together for a week, and they showed a lot of character. They fought back well and kept us in the match. I still haven’t lost to Malawi, and I don’t intend to start now.”
Malawi beat South Africa in the Commonwealth Games and the Confederation of Netball Associations of Southern Africa last year.
Bock-Jonathan said there was a lot of work to be done before the World Cup in New Zealand in November.
“We have some young and fairly inexperienced players, and we need a lot of exposure to international teams – even the Under 21 teams would help us to prepare for the World Cup.
“|It was a very valuable exercise playing England Under 21 last week. They play a different style of netball from the African teams, and so it was very valuable to have the experience of playing them.
“But I really hope we are able to play more international teams – from Africa and elsewhere – before we head off to Auckland.”
The SPAR Challenge now moves to Cape Town for the second test on Monday and then onto to Durban for the final test on Wednesday.
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