The fourth leg of the 2022 Telkom Netball League came to an end this morning at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria. It was another weekend of electrifying action that saw some teams cause upsets while some walked away with much needed victories as the league edges closer to the knockout stages. Only two matches were played today and the first match went in favor of the Eastern Cape Comets who startled the Tornados with a 44-35 win. The Tornados had a superior goal percentage of eighty-eight in the first half but found themselves trailing behind due to a high error rate. Defensively, things didn’t look great for the Western Cape side after Goal Defense- Dominique Wepener sustained an injury in the last quarter. The fightback lacked sufficient power which led to a fourth defeat and they now remain fifth on the division two log standings.
In the final match of the weekend, the North West Flames survived an arm-wrestle to beat the Free State Crinums 68-66. This was the Flames’ second consecutive win and they have now moved from the bottom of the log standings to fifth in division one. Goal Shooter- Elmere Van der Berg was the difference between the two sides and boasted a ninety goal percentage after scoring sixty four of the sixty-eight goals and her efforts were rewarded with a player of the match accolade. Meanwhile, Crinums coach- Martha Mosoahle-Sam says she is not moved by the defeat because her team is still within the top four.
‘’I’m actually quite disappointed with the senior players because we had this game. We started our break on the fifty fifth minute, which I thought was still a good time because there was five minutes left. If it’s a draw and there’s five minutes left, you have plenty of opportunities to win a game of this magnitude. Next week, new opportunities, new beginnings. We still have two crucial games left, our senior players who were injured will be back and we still within the top four which for me is important’’.
The league will resume on Friday the 10th of June and the first match will see the Fireballs take on the revived Flames.
