SOUTH AFRICA VS WALES LIVE SCORES: The Proteas get their Netball World Cup campaign underway on Friday evening when South Africa face Wales at the CTICC in Cape Town.
Action gets underway from 18:00 with matches also broadcast live on SuperSport and Showmax Pro.
South Africa vs Wales LIVE scores: Netball World Cup
Match report
The SPAR Proteas defeated Wales in their Pool C match on Friday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), kicking off their Netball World Cup campaign with a victory.
The CTICC was packed to capacity with enthusiastic supporters of the home team as the ladies of the Spar Proteas triumphed 61-50.
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Proteas beat Wales in comfortable opening win
The Proteas’ dominated the first quarter of the match, which saw them ahead by nine points at the conclusion the opening period, helping the host team set up the game and control the flow of the match throughout.
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Elmeré van der Berg was successful with six out of her twelve efforts for the Proteas, while Ine-Mari Venter converted 26 of 28 goal attempts in the first half to be the star of the show.
With a 32-24 advantage at the half, South Africa made two substitutions: Jeante Strydom took the place of Shadine van der Merwe, and Nichole Taljaard took the place of Elmere van der Berg.
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Taljaard’s presence became apparent right away as she and Venter formed a lethal assault team for South Africa and ensured the hosts kept their foot firmly on the gas.’
The game’s top scorer for the hosts was Venter, who finished with 47 goals in just 51 attempts as her first half shooting form carried over into the third and fourth quarters of the piece.
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Taljaard, in contrast, was successful on eight of her nine attempts at goal.
“I was literally crying when we were singing the national anthem earlier because this meant so much to me, knowing that I missed the previous World Cup due to injury. It was a special moment for me to come out tonight for my maiden World Cup, at home and winning player of the match” said an emotional Venter at the post-match press conference.
Sri Lanka will be the next hurdle for Norma Plummer’s Proteas team on Saturday from 16:00.
“I am thrilled with how we played tonight; I will take the win even though I thought we could have done better. Our ladies really came out to play and I think Ine (Venter) deserved the accolade tonight, she stepped up very nicely. Elmere (van der Berg) played okay even though I feel like a big crowd got to her. Nichole Taljaard is a great athlete, and we will need to manage her and the small errors she makes – I believe that Jeante Strydom is an exceptional player who is super focused, we put her in and did wonders for us, just need to manage her well,” said an elated Norma Plummer
Other results
The reigning champion Silver Ferns of New Zealand easily defeated Trinidad and Tobago 76–27 to kick off the day, while Tonga just about defeated a stubborn Fiji 56–51.
In the second match of the morning session, Australia put on a dominant display.
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Priscilla Masisi, the tournament director, stated that all preparations have been finished and the site is ready for the Netball World Cup 2023.
“It’s been a long journey but finally we are here… we are ready to go, the place looks beautiful, thinking that we started with an empty venue that didn’t have anything and we had to build it up from scratch, putting in the seats, the lighting, the rigging and also ensuring that everything is up to standard,” she said.
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South Africa in the Netball World Cup
ALSO READ: SPAR Proteas must win the opening match
This year marks both the first time in South Africa’s history that they will host the Netball World Cup and the debut of the tournament on the African continent.
South Africa came in fourth place at the most recent Netball World Cup, held in Liverpool in 2019.
The hosts of this year’s tournament have been in the top three in two Netball World Cups, once in Perth 1967 when they placed third and their best performance in Birmingham 1995 when they placed second.
Wales in NWC
Wales participated in the inaugural Netball World Cup (also known as the World Tournament), which was held in Eastbourne in 1963, and placed 10th overall. They have twice achieved joint sixth place in the Netball World Cup, at the Port of Spain World Tournament in 1979 and the Auckland 1975 World Tournament. The most recent Netball World Cup, in Liverpool 2019, was missed by Wales.
