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Veronica Gwaze in Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
WHEN Zimbabwe Senior Netball team and 11-time Netball World Cup champions, Australia met at their first ever clash, back in Liverpool at the 2019 global showcase, the Gems were left nursing a 73-37 heartbreak.
Although they dazzled fans and left lasting impressions as they rattled the imposing opponents, the scoreline left a lot of homework for Gems.
Still, the Gems wrote a colourful piece of history as they finished the tournament in position eight.
And having to meet Australia for the second time, in their opening encounter at the ongoing 2023 Netball World Cup, Gems assistant coach Tatenda Shinya knew it would be a mammoth task for his side.
The Nedbank-sponsored Gems succumbed to an 86-30 defeat in a lopsided affair that had the Aussies dominating from the onset.
Although Shinya’s side proved to be physically strong, the Australians were more technical and clinical in their passes.
This gave them an upper hand as they dominated the game from the onset, taking to the half time break 41-18 ahead of the Gems.
However, Zimbabwe refused to be rattled although they turned over several balls to allow Australia out to a lead that it never relinquished.
Shinya said the opening game, as anticipated, provided the much-needed competitive platform to gauge the team’s performance.
The Gems made their second World Cup appearance under difficult circumstances and without adequate preparations, hence needed to use the Australian game as part of the preparations.
“I am happy with the team’s performance. The game was a brain teaser for us and we are happy with lessons because we now have a real picture of who we are,” he said.
“We started off well but in the second half, the game proved tough as we failed to contain the pressure.
“Aussies are the giants and are among the tournament favorites but we managed to score well especially in the first half which means, if we had contained the pressure and remained constant, we would have reduced the score line.”
Shinya was satisfied with the performance of the Gems’ youngsters Beaulah Hlungwani, Nicole Muzanenhamo, Nalani Makunde, Tafadzwa Matura and Elizabeth Mushore.
He said the tournament debutantes’ combinations worked well. The opening fixture, he said, was not about scorelines.
“We were not reading into score lines although we did not want very wide margins,” said Shinya.
“We are not focusing on fitness levels anymore; all players are fit so what we needed was simply a platform to measure our level of play and this is what we got.
“There are a few areas that we need to adjust when we play Fiji today and to remind the girls that we need character and confidence which is what we lacked yesterday.
“The fact that we have youngsters who have never been at this stage before contributed to the team failing to contain the pressure.”
A game best forgotten, the Gems now look to today (09:00 am), as they seek their first tournament win against Fiji.
The team needs to finish in the top three in their pool games to proceed to the next round of the tournament.
Online Reporter