Aussie Diamonds sparkle as they down SPAR Proteas

Australia continued their dominance over the SPAR Proteas with a 64-53 win over South Africa on Saturday, the Diamonds' 47th victory over SA - with no defeats.

When you compare the two nations, SPAR Proteas come into this match with at least 10 Test matches under their belt for 2025 while the Australian Diamonds are playing their first match on Saturday.

The SPAR Proteas took to court knowing that they need to put their best foot forward and do what they had never done before - beat then current world champions.

Head coach Jenny van Dyk has aintained that to be the best you will need to play against the best - and this is what South Africa did on Saturday. While the Aussie Diamonds struck first, going three points clear in the opening few minutes of the opening quarter, the SPAR Proteas were patient and stuck to their game plan. It was not long before they pulled level.

SPAR Proteas showed real character and showed up for every pass - they displayed grit and resilience; they gave as good as they got. At the end of the first quarter the two were locked at 14 points each.

In the second quarter the Aussie Diamonds ramped out their attack and made sure to pull away from the SPAR Proteas while restricting them from scoring. As the teams went to half-time, Australia were leading 34 -26.

Van Dyk made a few changes going into the third quarter with the introduction of Owethu Ngubane and Sanmarie Visser in place of Khanyisa Chawane and Shadine van der Merwe. At the end of the quarter, SPAR Proteas had scored 15 goals in response to the Diamonds' 16. Overall the score after 45 minutes was 50-41 to Australia.

With Tarle Mathe’s legs growing tired, Van Dyk brought on Refiloe Nketsa in the centre to strengthen the midcourt. Australia kept applying the pressure on the SPAR Proteas, they made sure to keep peeling away from South Africa and eventually won the opening match of the three-match series 64-53.

Reflecting on the game, Van Dyk said: “To be honest, it wasn’t a bad game for us as South Africa, taking on the best in the world is never an easy task but we did it. Our first quarter was good and everything that went wrong for us was in the second quarter. We lost the third quarter by a single point which demonstrated good game performance from our end. We know that we can be competitive as a team, there is a lot of improvement from our end. Our aim with the next match is to win, we do not just compete.”

Fixtures

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

Wednesday – 10.30am @ Wollongong Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Sunday, 12 October – 7.30am @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide

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.