Wales, Jamaica, Singapore, Malawi, Uganda, England, New Zealand and host Australia all registered wins on Day one of the 2015 Netball World Cup on Friday in Sydney, Australia.
All were games were played at the Allphones Arena, a large multipurpose arena situated in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, along Olympic Blvd & Edwin Flack Avenue.
POOL A
New Zealand 73-28 Barbados
Australia 73-32 Trinidad &Tobago
Hosts Australia opened with a convincing win over Trinidad and Tobago’s Calypso girls. The Diamonds led 35-16 after a complicated first half in which Kim Green was involved in a heavy collision with Kemba Duncan.
The Australia were still on course till the end of the third quarter as the side maintained a 51-26 lead.
Many questions popped up in the final quarter but the side held on to get their campaign for an 11th world title off to a solid start extending their unbeaten run to 20 Tests.
New Zealand also claimed a memorable 73-28 win over Barbados thanks to Bailey Mes who helped them to a flying start in the first quarter.
The Silver Ferns were later buoyed up by goal attack Maria Tutaia and debutante Paseka who dominated the circle to run out victors.
POOL B
England 60-19 Scotland
Jamaica 90-44 Samoa
England dominated their British Isles counterpart Scottish Thistles of Scotland prevailing 60-19. England lead 13-5 at quarter time as Scotland struggled to make an impact.
Coming after rotation, consistent shooter Rachel Dunn made 10 goals at 100% accuracy for England. The experience of Jo Harten, Ebony Beckford-Chambers and Geva Mentor was also key as all together delivered the “Holy grail’ for the side.
Jamaica put on a spirited fight to claim their maiden win 90-44 win over Samoa. Captain Nicole Aiken-Pinnock guided the side a successful start as the team settled into the match with in no time.
Debutant Jamaican shooter Anna Kay Griffiths impressed in the second quarter with 11 from 13 attempts while experienced Romelda Aitken ripped apart Samoa with 14 from 15 attempts.
POOL C
Singapore 56-43 Sri Lanka
Malawi 58-51 South Africa
Singapore overcame Sri Lanka 56-43 off Veteran Premila Hirubalan’s brilliant defence for the former. Even though Sri Lanka had strong ball movement, it was not enough as the side got edged eventually.
Shooters Huifen Chen Chen and Soh were on top of their game for Singapore pushing the difference to 13 goals for Singapore in the final period emerging 56-43 winners.
South African Proteas and sixth ranked Malawi Queens were also in battle and it was the Queens who earned the crucial win with a 7 point margin.
Erin Burger and World Cup debutant Lenize Potgieter delivered awesome performances for the Proteas but Malawi’s Mwayi Kumwenda neutralized shooting 40 goals from 43 attempts to help her side to a winning start.
POOL D
Fiji 52-59 Wales
Fiji suffered loss in their opener to Wales, a match that opened the Netball World Cup. Even though Taraima Mitchell of Fiji finished as the top scorer with 100% accuracy and 35 goals the side lost with a painful 7 point margin.
Fiji took an early lead through goal-shooter Unouna Rusivakula but went to concede. Thomas and Chelsea Lewis pulled Wales out of the dungeon as the side gained the lead midway the match.
Wales refused to falter in the last quarter to register a much needed victory.
Uganda was led by captain Peace Proscovia as the team made it to the list of the day’s winners. Prolific Goal Shooter and skipper Peace shot 56 goals with a pair of assists. Goal Attack Racheal Nanyonga backed up Proscovia with 10 goals and 7 assists.
It was Uganda’s highest score at the Netball World Cup also doubling as their least margin so far. Zambia started strongly with a couple of points in the lead but failed to hold on.
