Zimbabwe’s target of a top four finish at the 2023 Netball World Cup is up in smoke after the Gems lost 52-48 to minnows Fiji today at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in South Africa.
Just like they did in England four years ago, the fans turned up in their numbers as anticipating a victory against a team that is ranked lower than the Gems and has a population smaller than that of Harare.
However the joy was short-lived as the Gems went on to disappoint after going down to Fiji 52-48 to suffer their second defeat at the ongoing Netball World Cup.
The Gems were lethargic, slow to every ball and just did not look hungry enough to win the match, while the technical team also made some calls that killed the little rhythm the team had.
Tendai Shinya the team’s assistant believes they were just not up to the task.
“We failed to contain pressure in the second and third quarter and we just lacked character as team, we also need to work on the mental aspect of the game I think this is another area that we lost the game” he said.
Team vice captain, Claris Kwaramba was not pleased with their performance.
She said “In the first quarter we were complacent, we lost our centre passes, the fine margins from yesterday’s game we again haunting us, we had too many errors and high turnovers it’s was just a bad day in the office”
Zimbabwe took the first quarter 14-12 before allowing Fiji to come back in the second quarter to go to the half time trailing 25-26, and then to eventually lose 52-48.
The Gems had a lot of turnovers and unforced errors in their match and struggled to shoot from distance when Nalani Makunde was odd the court in the fourth quarter.
Zimbabwe next take on Tonga on Sunday needing nothing short of victory to stay in contention and fight for a place in the top 12.
Meanwhile, Australia beat Tonga 85-38 leaving Zimbabwe needing to beat Tonga by 18 points in their final group match to progress to the next round.
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