South Africa won the three-Test Spar Challenge series when they beat Barbados by 52 goals to 44 in a thrilling encounter in the second Test at the Good Hope Centre on Friday night.
As promised by coach Carin Strauss after the first Test on Wednesday, there were several changes to the starting line-up but, contrary to expectations, she did not rest captain Liezel Wium, who has been struggling with an Achilles tendon injury. She had to leave the court after 10 minutes in the first Test after a heavy fall.
”I’m feeling much better and just happy to be back on court,” she said.
The goal shooters from both teams — Tsakane Mbewe for South Africa and Lydia Bishop for Barbados had outstanding matches. Mbewe had a 100% record in the first two quarters and, in fact, missed only three shots at goal throughout the match, while Bishop matched her unerring accuracy.
After the first few minutes, South Africa took the lead and stayed there throughout the match, although Barbados fought like tigers, and challenged the home side all the way. During the third quarter, the Bajans drew level with the Proteas on 35-all, but South Africa pulled away after that and the islanders never really looked like winning.
South Africa led 14-11 after the first quarter and were 25-23 ahead at halftime. The teams matched each other goal for goal in the third quarter, each scoring an additional 12 goals, but in the last quarter, South Africa showed their dominance, outscoring the visitors by 15 goals to nine, while the spectators became increasingly excited, dancing and singing in the aisles as the Proteas drove forward.
”We really pushed it up a gear in the last quarter,” said Wium. ”We were under a lot of pressure, because Barbados really fought hard. We had to increase our intensity, because there is no time in netball to play catch-up.”
Wium was named player of the match, but she said that although she was delighted with the honour, she believed South Africa’s victory had been a team effort.
”This team makes things easy for me,” she said. ”We are a close-knit unit, and we are getting closer all the time.”
She did not believe there would be any problem motivating the players for the third and final Test at noon on Saturday.
”We want to make a clean sweep,” she said.
”We will not be satisfied with a two-one victory. We will try to push it up another gear still. There are still some players who need a chance to play in this series, and we will all be doing our best in the last game. We definitely want to win three-nil.” – Sapa