SPAR PROTEAS GET OFF TO A FLYER
THE SPAR Proteas coasted to a winning start at the Diamond Challenge in Polokwane yester afternoon, beating neighbours Namibia 78-28 in the six-team netball tournament opener at the Ngoako Ramatlhodi Sports Complex.
It was always going to be a tough start for the Namibians, who have failed to beat South Africa in nine previous encounters and are ranked 23 places below them in the world. While the visitors managed to hold their own in the opening minutes, the home team had opened up an 11-goal lead by the first break.
The slick-looking Proteas extended that gap to 29 goals by half time, which was reached on 38-9. Coach Norma Plummer then took the opportunity to ring in the changes in the second half, making sure all 12 of her players had plenty of time on court. The South Africans continued to dominate to claim the 50-goal win. It was not their largest winning margin over the Namibians, however. That came back in 2002, when the Proteas beat them by 68 goals. Interestingly, they also scored 78 goals in that game.
Celebration
Meanwhile, apart from the convincing win there was more cause for celebration in the SA camp, with goal attack Maryka Holtzhausen earning her 100th cap for the team. It was a particularly significant venue for reaching the milestone, considering the 31-yearold made her debut in the Limpopo city 11 years ago and hasn’t played there in national colours since. She is just the second SPAR Proteas player to reach the century mark, after teammate and good friend Erin Burger (109), who played the first quarter of today’s match.
“I don’t think it’s that different from when I played my first game at the same venue all those years back,” she admitted afterwards.
“The nerves before the game never go away, but I’m relieved it’s over. There was a lot of hype before the time and now I can actually say I’m a 100-capped player. I never thought I would have 100 caps for South Africa, but playing at the same venue where I started, it’s amazing. It’s a very special day for me and my teammates have made it even more special. I really appreciate it.”
SPAR Proteas captain Bongi Msomi was pleased with her team’s first outing, saying: “We felt good. There are quite a few things we still want to work on, but it was just great to step out on court as a team again and get some great passages of play.
“It was a good start but obviously we are never satisfied so we’d like to keep getting better from here.”
As for the impressively vocal home crowd, Msomi added: “It’s just awesome seeing them getting so excited and involved in the game and hopefully we’ll get even bigger numbers towards the end of the week.” SOL PLAATJE University’s good start at the University Sports SA Cricket Week being held at the Durban University of Technology campus in KwaZulu-Natal hit a pothole yesterday, on day two of the tournament, when the Kimberley team faced off against fellow tournament debutant The University of Limpopo.
SPU had on Tuesday won their opening game beating the University of the North West by 10 runs. SPU had managed to defend a score of 95 runs by dismissing the North West University’s team for just 85. SPU’s medium right arm bowler Kayden van der Merwe proved devastating with ball in hand as he took 3/18.
It was middle order batsman and skipper Selwyn Cloete who scored a quick-fire 52 runs off just 36 deliveries that set the tone for the team’s victory. Cloete’s score included four boundaries and five sixes. His exploits with the bat rightly earned him the Man of the Match title in their opening game.
In yesterday’s game, however, Limpopo won the toss and sent SPU in to bat before restricting them to 95/9 in their 20 overs. Limpopo then easily knocked off the runs, racing to 97/3 in 14.3 overs to take the game by 7 wickets.
Limpopo University’s bowlers proved very economical with Faiz Delawala taking 2/4 while Tshepo Mhlongo and Akeeb Amanji also chipped in with a wicket each for a combined eight runs.
SPU will today take on the
Cape Peninsula University of Technology team which tentatively stands top of pool B with five points.