Beaten Malawi Queens\u2019 chances of breaking into the world\u2019s top-four ranking hang by a thread\u2014 they now need a proper game-plan to overcome Jamaica on Friday at the Netball World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n
After a four-game winning run, the Queens\u2019 perfect record ended at Allphones Arena in Sydney, yesterday when they lost to number two ranked, New Zealand\u2019s Silver Ferns, 57-49.<\/p>\n
Now the Queens face reggae women, Jamaica, in a must-win pool E qualifying round match to decide the semifinal ticket. Jamaica today play against Uganda. Similarly, Jamaica must also beat the She- Cranes to keep their semifinal dream alive.<\/p>\n
The furthest the Queens have reached at the World Cup is the fifth position.<\/p>\n
Malawi coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa said they would reflect on the New Zealand game before drawing a game-plan for Jamaica.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand and Jamaica play a different game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
During yesterday\u2019s match, history repeated itself when Malawi put up a spirited performance after overcoming a shaky start.<\/p>\n
The Queens trailed 6-0 in the opening three minutes, but recovered to lose narrowly the first quarter 16-13. The Silver Ferns extended the lead at half time to 30-24.<\/p>\n
Malawi\u2019s goalkeeper Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda was outstanding with numerous interceptions, but the Queens\u2019 defence generally had problems dealing with aerial balls.<\/p>\n
Centre Takondwa Lwazi and wing attack Bridget Kumwenda kept the supply line flowing feeding goal shooter Mwawi Kumwenda and goal attack Sindie Simtowe with telling passes.<\/p>\n
At some point the Queens reduced the margin to two baskets, but some questionable decisions from the umpire helped the Silver Ferns recover.<\/p>\n
The Queens\u2019 shooting accuracy was at 89 percent beating New Zealand who had 86 percent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, New Zealand coach Waimarama Taumaunu said it was a physical game.<\/p>\n
I thought it was pretty physical and I thought there was a lot of advantage and we\u2019ve got some bruises and things to show for it. That was a bit disappointing,\u201d Taumaunu told www.stuff.co.nz.<\/p>\n
Taumaunu sought clarification from umpires Jackie Mizone and Sharon Kelly immediately after the game about whether hits of that nature were to be expected from now on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of advantage we thought being played off the ball when we had people that were hurt. Goal attack Jodi Brown had to be replaced at three-quarter time after taking a hit in the back,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beaten Malawi Queens\u2019 chances of breaking into the world\u2019s top-four ranking hang by a thread\u2014 they now need a proper game-plan to overcome Jamaica on Friday at the Netball World Cup in Australia. After a four-game winning run, the Queens\u2019 perfect record ended at Allphones Arena in Sydney, yesterday when they lost to number two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7449,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7443\/revisions\/7449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}