SPAR Baby Proteas claimed bragging rights and affirmed African supremacy with a 64 – 33 win over Malawi in their third group D match at the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup.
With Malawi and SPAR Baby Proteas being the only two African teams in the tournament, a battle for continental supremacy was the order of the day when the two nations met. Both teams came into the match with two wins respectively and it was South Africa who had a superior goal difference.
Unlike the other two nations that the SPAR Baby Proteas had played, Malawi was as expected physical, however this did not derail South Africa as they challenged for every ball and stood their ground – at the end of the opening quarter, the SPAR Baby Proteas enjoyed a 16 -9 lead.
Malawi came back stronger in the second quarter and limited South Africa’s movements and forcing them to play long passes to the advantage of Malawi. The quarter was fiercely contested with SPAR Baby Proteas narrowly winning it 13 – 10 taking the overall score to 29 -19 in favour of South Africa at the halftime break.
The SPAR Baby Proteas came into the second half a rejuvenated team and quickly got off the starting blocks to ensure that they extent their lead in the match. However, Malawi weren’t going to sit back take it, they punched back as much as they got – after 15 minutes of play, it was the SPAR Baby Proteas that took the championship quarter 15 – 12 to move the score to 44 – 27 in their favour.
South Africa stepped up in the final quarter restricting the Malawi attack and ended the match with a welcome victory against their continental arch-rivals.
“It was a tough game against Malawi, we were very untidy, and we were terribly slow. We struggled to get into our own rhythm – this is something that we expected against a physical Malawi side. They interrupted our structure on court, and we took too long to settle. Eventually we got to it, the team showed up and managed to get a win,” said Precious Mthembu – SPAR Baby Proteas Head Coach
South Africa’s next and final pool match will be against FIJI on Wednesday 24th September 2025 at 19:00.
Quarter Score Breakdown:
Q1 – SPAR Baby Proteas 16 – 09 Malawi
Q2 - SPAR Baby Proteas 29 – 19 Malawi
Q3 - SPAR Baby Proteas 44 – 27 Malawi
Q4 - SPAR Baby Proteas 64 – 33 Malawi
SPAR Baby Proteas Starting XII
GS – Mbali Diphoko; GA – Luane Smith; WA – Karla Victor; C- Kyla Dames; WD – Phophi Nematangari ( C ); GD – Zahrah Noah ; GK – Ametisse Bandu.