Rampant Proteas prepare to lift trophy

The Proteas netball team look set to lift the Africa Netball Cup title today, with just one opponent standing in the way of a potential whitewash victory.

Remaining unbeaten after five round-robin matches, the SA side earned another convincing victory in Cape Town yesterday, sweeping aside Kenya with a 71-36 win.

Turning out as the firm favourites against a lowly-ranked Kenyan side, the hosts took command early in the match, and after romping to a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, they were 36-20 in front at half-time.

While head coach Dorette Badenhorst made no changes in the first half, she introduced fresh legs in the third and fourth stanzas and they extended their advantage to 53-25 with 15 minutes left, before ultimately triumphing by a 35-point margin.

With Malawi beating Uganda 49-45 in a thrilling contest earlier yesterday, proving they still had the beating of a vastly improved Ugandan outfit, only South Africa and Malawi remained in contention for the title.

After Tanzania withdrew on the eve of the continental tournament, the other seven teams were combined into one group.

Subsequently, rather than pool stages and play-offs, the organisers had opted for a straight round-robin competition.

The only team without a loss in the competition, the Proteas needed to beat Zambia in their last game today to lift the trophy.

Should they be handed a shock defeat, Malawi would need to beat Zimbabwe to draw even on points at the top of the table, though it seemed South Africa were still likely to win on points difference.