Third ranked Malawi women’s team received a rude shock on Sunday when they took on hosts Kenya at the ongoing Netball Africa Cup and were beaten 52-39. This result clearly did not go down well with the highly rated Malawians and they demanded a reaction in their very next game – a reaction they got at the expense of debutants Nigeria.
Playing in their third match in the same number of days, the Malawi team dominated from start to finish, imposing its authority on the game and proving their prowess in the netball world over the years – in a high scoring 82-22 triumph over the young Nigerians.
It has indeed been a very challenging spell of games for Nigeria who came into the tournament as complete newbies, never having ever played a single international match in history and having to play, back to back with 24 hour gaps, three of the top five African nations.
The high score was one that was apparent from the start as the Malawi team set about their business with aggression right from the off, sweeping the Nigerian team aside comfortably in the first quarter.
Nigeria’s Odiri Atirene who excelled in the two previous games had to be temporarily replaced midway through the first quarter after she fell awkwardly under the challenge of an opponent and that had an effect on the Nigerians’ attacking play. Other players, having been in tough games for the past two days, were also nursing minor niggles here and there and Nigeria Green Hawks never really recovered from the huge deficit from the first quarter.
It is seen as a real induction into the world of netball for Nigeria and a sign that work will need to be done to get to the levels of nations that have been at it for years. The promise and potential remains and there is a quiet optimism that the nation will come good in time.
But for now, the big guns in African netball are showing their mettle and none of them seems to be too keen on letting any relatively smaller team catch them by surprise.
As for the Nigerian team, it’s back to the drawing board as for the fourth day in a row, they will have to face up to a Zambian women’s team to keep their slim hopes alive of making it to the crucial round of the World Cup qualifiers.