‘Good preparation for Quad Series’

Wesley Bo on

Having experimented with various combinations, Proteas coach Norma Plummer was satisfied with the squad’s dominant performances at the Diamond Challenge netball series.

The national side went unbeaten in the annual tournament against African competition, retaining their title in Polokwane, and Plummer felt they had prepared well for the Quad Series in January when they will face global giants Australia, New Zealand and hosts England.

“I put the girls under pressure because I was introducing different strategies and tactics for them and I wanted them to implement them on court,” Plummer said.

The Proteas beat Zimbabwe 73-44 in their last match of the round-robin Diamond Challenge on Saturday, finishing at the summit of the final standings with maximum points from their five games, and captain Bongi Msomi (pictured) was delighted after they had been given somewhat of a shake by Zambia the day before.

“Yesterday we weren’t satisfied with what we did, so today the plan was to go out hard and implement our strategies,” said Msomi, who was named Player of the Tournament.

While the SA Presidents XII defeated Botswana 58-35 to finish second in the table with four victories at the five-day tournament, the invitation side did not officially compete in the international Diamond Challenge series.

In their absence from the official standings, Zambia ended second, Zimbabwe finished third, Botswana settled for fourth position and Namibia took the wooden spoon.