ZIMBABWE Gems’ caretaker coach, Ropafadzo Mutsauki, says he
was satisfied by the team’s performance at the Africa Netball Cup.
The Gems finished fourth in Cape Town, South Africa, at a
tournament that featured seven countries. Hosts South Africa were crowned the
2019 Africa Netball Cup winners after winning all their matches.
Malawi were second and Uganda third while Zimbabwe finished
fourth. The Gems ended their campaign on
a losing note when they went down 46-71 to Malawi yesterday.
They were walked over by Uganda in the first game and lost
to South Africa before they recovered to register three consecutive wins
against Kenya, Lesotho and Zambia.
The Gems had a good start in their match yesterday, going
toe-to-toe with Malawi for most of the first quarter.
But they suffered a huge blow towards the end of the
quarter when goal shooter Joice Takaidza was forced out due to an injury and
was replaced by Linda Nkorongo.
With their seasoned shooter out, Zimbabwe struggled to
adjust and Malawi were five goals ahead by the end of the first quarter, with
the score reading 16-11.
Mutsauki made a couple of changes in the second quarter as
he tried to find the right combinations upfront. He brought in Sharon Bwanali for Nkorongo.
He later settled for Nkorongo and Bwanali, which saw some
improvement in the attack in the last quarter, but the damage had already been
done.
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