BY MAGRETH RUZVIDZO
ZIMBABWE senior netball team coach Lloyd Makunde could not conceal his disappointment after his side ended their Pent series campaign with a draw against Zambia in Namibia yesterday.
The Gems started the match with a 4-0 lead, which was, however, short-lived as Zambia managed to claw back, forcing the two teams to end the first quarter tied at 12 points apiece.
In the second quarter, they were separated by fine margins, with Zambia edging Zimbabwe 29-26.
The Gems later on appeared to have gained more confidence and played well in the third quarter and had the privilege of going for a third quarter break four points ahead of Zambia.
Although they had the advantage of playing against six players after the Zambian wing-defender was sent off for persistent infringement, the Gems couldn’t spin that to their advantage as they continuously made unnecessary mistakes coupled with failure to utilise opportunities that came their way. The two battled to a 52-all draw in the end.
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In an interview after the match, Makunde said lack of confidence might have caused his team’s failure to make use of opportunities that came their way.
“We played terribly and kudos to Zambia. They played well and they played a very good game,” he said.
“I thought we had the advantage numerically, but the seventh player was not using the space available. She was overcrowding, I don’t know what happened to her, maybe it was lack of communication and confidence.”
Gems captain Felistus Kwangwa also expressed concern over their poor performance yesterday.
“I’m not happy at all about our performance today. We were too casual. I don’t know if it was fatigue or something else,” she said.
“We had an advantage of playing against six players, but it seems like at our attacking end, we were struggling to get the ball into the circle and when it got into the circle, our shooters were not accurate enough today.”
In this tournament, the Gems started on a bad note on Monday as they were crushed by Malawi 56-38 in their opening match.
In the second game, they won 56-46 against Kenya, which gave them some hope before they were whipped 79-40 by Uganda on Wednesday.
They, however, managed to secure a 57-38 win on Thursday against the hosts, Namibia, and ended their campaign with a draw against Zambia yesterday.
Meanwhile, the seventh-ranked Uganda proved to be the powerhouse of the tournament as they finished all their matches unbeaten.
The Gems will now have to brace up for the African Netball Championships, which will run from November 9 to 16 at the same venue, where Botswana and South Africa and Tanzania are also expected to join in that tournament.
“We still have four days to prepare, so it’s hard training and I’m going to urge the players to play our normal game,” Makunde said.
Uganda secured the first position in this tournament, while Malawi came second.
The Gems came third, the hosts Namibia fourth, Zambia fifth with Kenya coming last, having lost in all their matches.
Follow Magreth on Twitter @MagrethRuzvidzo