SPAR Proteas ready to acquit themselves well in the world cup
SPAR Proteas will kick-off their NWC against Trinidad and Tobago.
With less than a week to go before the start of the Netball World Cup ( NWC) in Liverpool, there have been some dramatic changes to the international rankings.
The NWC starts on July 12, with 60 matches to be played altogether, concluding with the final on July 21.
SPAR Proteas will kick-off their NWC match against Trinidad and Tobago on July 12 at 6.05pm.
While South Africa has retained its fifth place ranking, long-time nemesis Malawi has dropped from sixth place to ninth. Uganda has moved up one ranking to sixth place, a notch behind South Africa, while the other leading African country, Zimbabwe, has dropped out of the top ten, to the 13th place.
There have also been interesting movements in the top four. Australia retains their number one ranking, but Jamaica has moved past Commonwealth champions, England, into second place. New Zealand, the only country other than Australia to have won the World title outright, remains in fourth position.
The SPAR Proteas will play Jamaica in the preliminary round of the NWC. The other teams in the SPAR Proteas’ group are Trinidad and Tobago, ranked tenth, and Fiji, 23rd.
On the eve of the team’s departure to the United Kingdom, SPAR Proteas head coach Norma Plummer said she believed SPAR Proteas were ready to acquit themselves well against Jamaica.
“They have some extremely tall players, and are a very physical team, but when we played Jamaica at the Commonwealth Games last year, we stood up well, despite having lost a number of key players to injury,” said Plummer.
“We have also had a number of players honing their skills in the Australian, New Zealand and English leagues, where they have learnt how to cope with pressure when things become uncomfortable.”
As part of the preparations for the NWC, the SPAR Proteas will play two Test matches against Wales, which has dropped down one place, to 12th.
The rankings include matches played since July 1, 2018, and these have a full weighting (100%). Matches played in the previous two years (July 2016 to June 2018) have a weighting of 50%. Matches played before July 2016 including those played at the Netball World Cup Sydney, 2015, are no longer included in determining the INF World Rankings.
