LOOK: Proteas fall short at CTICC
|Published
TO THE LAASTE: Shadine van der Merwe.
The Proteas’ Netball World Cup semifinal dreams slithered away at the Cape Town Town International Convention Centre on Thursday night.
Tasked with the near-impossible scenario of having to defeat Uganda by 64 or more points after Jamaica stunned defending champions New Zealand earlier in the day, the Proteas were unable to produce a miracle to secure their passage to the last four.
They fought gamely, and even had the nation dreaming at halftime when they led 33-19.
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🆚![CDATA[]]>🇺![CDATA[]]>🇬
— Netball South Africa (@Netball_SA) August 3, 2023
𝗩![CDATA[]]>𝗜![CDATA[]]>𝗖![CDATA[]]>𝗧![CDATA[]]>𝗢![CDATA[]]>𝗥![CDATA[]]>𝗬 𝗦![CDATA[]]>𝗢![CDATA[]]>𝗨![CDATA[]]>𝗧![CDATA[]]>𝗛 𝗔![CDATA[]]>𝗙![CDATA[]]>𝗥![CDATA[]]>𝗜![CDATA[]]>𝗖![CDATA[]]>𝗔!
But yoh, what a hard, close game. 😱
The winner between the Tonga vs Malawi match (Group F) will determine which team we play in the Play-Off on Friday.#SPARProteas | #NWC2023 pic.twitter.com/dlrWirQQPK
But Uganda then fought back bravely and had the Proteas paaping with the scoreboard reading 49-48 with three minutes to play.
A superb block by SA defender Nicola Smith gave the hosts the edge in the end to win 52-50 and clam third spot in Group G after Jamaica in first and New Zealand in second.
The Proteas will now head into a playoff match on Friday at 6pm to determine whether they will play for seventh and eight position or fifth and sixth position on Sunday.
TEAM P W D L % Pts
1 Jamaica 5 5 0 0 165.6 10
2 New Zealand 5 3 1 1 145.8 7
3 South Africa 5 3 1 1 114.8 7
4 Uganda 5 2 0 3 112.8 4
5 Wales 5 1 0 4 72 2
6 Trinidad 5 0 0 5 45 0