Superior speed and ball-handling skills saw England sweep to a convincing 56-41 win over South Africa in the first Test in the Spar Challenge series at the Randburg Recreation Centre on Wednesday.
South Africa were first to score, but England quickly went into the lead. They retained the lead, although South Africa’s good defence kept them in check until the final quarter, when England raced ahead, outscoring South Africa by 20 to 10.
Goalkeeper Desmarie Kotze, back in the team after an 18-month lay-off from netball, had an outstanding game, but too often turnover ball gained by the defence was wasted by the players in the centre court.
”I think we lost concentration,” said South African coach Marlene Wagner. ”It was a bit disappointing — we had plenty of turnover ball, but we didn’t always convert them into goals. But there were plenty of things to be happy about, and we know what we need to work on before the rest of the Tests.”
Goalshooter Sindi Gumede started indifferently, but improved as the game went on, and by the third quarter was scoring almost every time she had the ball in hand. But by the end of the match, the South Africans looked flat and tired, whereas England, who should have been worried by the altitude, still appeared reasonably fresh.
England coach Marg Caldow said she believes England should have won by a much bigger margin.
”We had 41 more shots at goal, so the margin should have been bigger. Our shooters definitely didn’t have a good day at the office, but we were able to make some changes and try out different combinations.
”What pleased me was that South Africa weren’t able to pull it back, even though our shooters were not having a good game. We got our rhythm going and in the end, it was teamwork that counted,” she said.
The second Test will be played at the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town on Saturday, and the third and final Test at the University of Port Elizabeth next Wednesday. — Sapa