Gems lose first play-off match

The two nations are playing a series which will see them clashing three times in as many days.

Tadious Manyepo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa

THE Gems lost their first Netball World Cup play-off match 62-45 to Barbados at the Cape Town International Convention Centre earlier today.

Ropafadzo Mutsauki’s charges are now competing for the 13th to 16th placement after crashing out of the title matches.

Zimbabwe put up underwhelming performances in the preliminary stages when they lost all their Pool A matches against Australia, Fiji and Tonga.

The Gems we demoted to the bottom four ranking games but they still gave a tame fight against a team they beat 67-34 in a practice match only five days ago.

They allowed the Barbadians to enjoy the game more as they never really got into the game.

Zimbabwe trailed 15-6 in the opening quarter and they fell further down to 35-16 at half time.

With Barbados playing with more purpose than the Gems, the scoreline was 51-31 in the Caribbean side’s favour at the conclusion of the third quarter.

Zimbabwe however still have a chance of clinching 13th place in this fiesta if they post positive results against Sri Lanka and Singapore in the coming two days.