Aussie Diamonds claim series whitewash over SPAR Proteas

The Australian Diamonds continued to showcase their dominance against the SPAR Proteas as they beat them 65-42 to claim the series 3-0 in Adelaide on Sunday.

The SPAR Proteas had to put the disappointment of the previous match in Wollongong behind them as they come into the final game of the series. With the Aussie Diamonds having had already clinched the series, a win for South Africa would boost their confidence.

South Africa started off strong and keeping the Aussies on the back foot – a task they managed to maintain for the better part of the quarter, however it was the world champs that pulled away in the last three minutes scoring seven goals with no response from their opponents. Aussie Diamonds took the quarter 20-11.

SPAR Proteas started the second quarter a bit stronger, using speed to their advantage – the objective was to reduce the score deficit and take the game to Australia who were not sitting back either. SPAR Proteas head coach Jenny van Dyk made two tactical change mid quarter with the introduction of Owethu Ngubane for Kamogelo Masego and Juanita van Tonder made her debut replacing Nicola Smith as a goalkeeper. Australia’s dominance and experience continued as they took the quarter 19-9, the hosts went into half-time leading the match 39-20.

The start of the championship quarter saw Van Dyk make more changes to the team with Rolene Streutker and Refiloe Nketsa taking to the court.

SPAR Proteas held their own as they took the quarter 12-10 however Australia still enjoyed a 49-32 lead.

The SPAR Proteas put up a fight in the final quarter but a dominant and physical Aussie Diamonds scored 16 goals to the 10 scored by South Africa in the last 15 minutes to give the world's best netball nation an impressive 65-42 victory.

“Firstly, we would like to congratulate Australia on their fantastic performance. Coming back to us, I believe that there were moments that I think we were right on point and doing a great job on attacks mostly – we have a lot of work that lies ahead of us, we still have a lot to do. We are looking forward to getting back home and start working on areas of improvement. A lot of our identified areas of improvements need a lot of work and not quick fixes, this is something that we need to work on and drilling into our players. We learnt a lot about our players, where they are strong, how they adapt and how we need to manage them. This series was a big eye opener for us, a big learning experience and exercise as well,” said Van Dyk.

Fixtures

Saturday – 11.30am @ Red Energy Stadium (Aus won 64-53)

Wednesday – 10.30am @ Wollongong Entertainment Centre, Wollongong (Aus won 67-40)

Sunday – 7.30am @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide (Aus won 65-42)

SPAR Proteas Squad

Khanyisa Chawane (capt), Nicholé Breedt, Entle Futshane, Kamogelo Maseko, Tarle Mathe, Owethu Ngubane, Refiloe Nketsa, Nozipho Ntshangase, Nicola Smith, Rolene Streutker, Elmeré van der Berg, Shadine van der Merwe, Juanita van Tonder, Jamie van Wyk, Sanmarie Visser.