Things are getting serious at the NWC2023

A clearer picture has emerged of who is still in contention at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town. Seven days of competition remain before the final on Sunday and the crowning of the world champions at this year’s tournament.

It looks like more of the same in South Africa with the top-ranked teams in the world all still there, including world No 1 and two, Australia and New Zealand. The Diamonds have won the tournament 11 times in its 60-year history and the Silver Ferns five times.

The teams have now been divided into new groups to compete for who will advance to the all-important playoffs and contest for the medal placings and the ultimate – being crowned world champions at the first World Cup held on African soil.

Taking their points from the first round with them, Australia, Tonga and Fiji from Group A and England, Malawi and Scotland from Group B have gone through to form Group F. Jamaica, South Africa and Wales from Group C and New Zealand, Uganda and Trinidad & Tobago from Group D are now in Group G. Zimbabwe, Barbados, Sri Lanka and Singapore (last in their respective groups) are in Group E and are playing out for classification for position 13 to 16.

The respective teams in Group F and Group G who didn’t play each other in the first round will face off from today until Friday. The points they collect, together with those they carried over from the first round, will then be combined to determine the top two spots in each group for the semifinals on Saturday (G1 v F2, F1 v G2). The final will take place on Sunday.

The powerhouses of world netball safely navigated their way through to the next stage while Zimbabwe is the only one of the four participating African teams that don’t have a chance to finish at the top.

Australia and England will most likely top Group F and claim two of the coveted semifinal spots.

In Group G a few interesting matchups over the next few days waits. World champions New Zealand should still be in contention come the weekend after a string of decidedly one-sided victories, bar the narrow 10-point win over Uganda. Then it is up to Jamaica, host nation South Africa and Uganda to jostle for second place in their group.

The Proteas lost their final group match against the Sunshine Girls on Sunday evening and will have to beat both the Silver Ferns and the She Cranes if they want to contest the semifinals. Those matches are on Wednesday (New Zealand, 6pm) and Friday (Uganda, 4pm).

South Africa will be keeping a close eye on the game between Uganda and Jamaica at 4pm on Monday as this will give them a clear indication of the task at hand and what they need to do to keep their World Cup hopes alive.