An action packed weekend is in the offing for netball enthusiasts as the Nedbank Premier Netball League (NPL) season finale plays out at White City Stadium in Bulawayo.
Twenty teams competed in this season’s campaign, which ran from March playing in a bubble format.
It was quite a thrilling season, with interesting bubbles and Platinum Queens finally tasted defeat, having gone through last season unbeaten.
The Zvishavane side will go into the weekend matches seeking to retain the title as they have been dominating since the league’s inaugration in 2021.
Platinum Queens are on top of the league table with 66 points from 34 games, while the Chisumbanje side, Green Fuel, who also finished as runner-ups last season, are closely trailing behind with 60 points from 31 games. Both teams have lost a game each.
Ngezi Platinum Queens are on third position with 58 points from 33 matches, while ZDF Queens are fourth-placed with 54 points from 32 games.
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Harare City are on fifth position with 46 points from 33 matches to complete the top five.
NPL secretary-general Liberty Mhizha highlighted that they had a blockbuster season and are looking forward to an exciting weekend filled with competition as teams battle for honours.
“The season was interesting with quite a number of lessons learnt through out the journey. Competition was even more exciting with the coming in of the Nedbank as the main sponsor; it gave teams more motivation,” he said.
Nedbank partnered PNL in April this year, injecting US$50 000 which was meant to cater for the 20 teams’ kits and hosting of matches.
Mhizha said the season had enabled new levels of competition compared with the previous one as they also managed to achieve some of their set targets for the season.
“There was no easy team, and one could not just predict a win. We witnessed some dramatic losses and wins as games were played which is a sure sign of progression within the league,” he said
“One of our targets was to afford each team a chance to host a bubble, thereby equally spreading the games to almost every province. Also, increasing the level of competitiveness which would directly influence the number of athletes who would make it into the Gems was achieved. Hopefully, we have set a fair platform for the upcoming African Netball Championships which will take place in Botswana in few weeks to come.”
They are still hopeful of hosting another tournament before the year ends.
“End of season tournament is still a desire which we haven’t really ruled out, funds permitting, and definitely end of season awards are therefore on and dates are yet to be confirmed,” Mhizha said.