Impressive Malawi outplay Scotland in Word Cup opener

In the first meeting between Malawi and Scotland at the World Cup, Malawi walked away with an impressive 55-49 victory at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town on Friday.

The African team is ranked sixth in the world while Scotland is ranked tenth.

It was Malawi’s seventh appearance at a World Cup, with their first being in Birmingham in 1995 where they finished eight out of the 27 participating nations. Their best performance was at the tournament in 2007 in Auckland.

The first quarter saw Malawi convert all their chances at goal with Joyce Mvula and Jane Chimaliro not missing anything. They, however, only managed to have 37 per cent possession and one can just imagine what more ball could’ve done to the scoreline at that stage.

With the first 15 minutes gone and dusted, the Malawi Queens turned things up a notch in the last three quarters of the match, with players moving in off the bench and fresh legs providing the required energy to start clawing back at what initially looked like an insurmountable task.

The African team started outclassing the Scottish one centre pass at a time, showing true netball grit and determination.

Scotland played the first three quarters with an unchanged team and when the tide started turning, brought the replacements on in the last 15 minutes.

It was, however, too little, too late as Malawi turned a massive deficit in possession at the beginning of the match into one of 61 per cent in the fourth quarter.

In the end, Malawi shooters Mvula, Chimaliro and Mwai Mumwenda converted all their attempts at goal, using every opportunity that came their way. The Scottish will rue the few shots that didn’t land.

Most Valuable Player: Joyce Mvula

Goal Shooting Percentage: Malawi 100 per cent / Scotland 89.1 per cent

Penalty Count (Contact and Obstruction): Malawi 77 / Scotland 34

Quarter scores: 17-9 / 29-22 / 41-35 / 55-49