SA’s netball squad for the world cup is revealed at Ferndale event
Head coach Norma Plummer feels she has chosen the best squad available for the World Cup.
South Africa’s team for the Netball World Cup was revealed at an action-packed event in Ferndale, and the coach feels this is the strongest side she could have picked.
The 2023 Vitality Netball World Cup takes place in Cape Town from July 28 until August 6, and this year will have its first-ever African stage in the tournament’s history.
SPAR Proteas head coach Norma Plummer has been in camp with a group of South African-based players who are on a four-week break from the Telkom Netball League. All the overseas-based players were not part of this camp due to commitments in their respective leagues abroad.
The team assembled at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sports (SAS) which has been their training base since 2022 on May 7 and has worked very closely with their Australian mentor for her to finally select her team.
Plummer will lead her South African charges to their second successive World Cup after doing so back in 2019. She believes that she has selected the best players to represent South Africa.
“I believe that we have worked very hard with the players at our disposal,” she said. “We have had some technical and tactical aspects of the game put to the players and at their game. We manage to get some practice matches as well so that, we are sure. We have chosen the best 15 players (12 traveling and three reserves) which we believe are the best options.”
Netball South Africa president, Cecilia Molokwane said they have given the management team all the support they needed in preparation for the World Cup. “This will be for the first time in sixty years that a Netball World Cup is hosted on African soil, therefore our expectation for a podium finish as hosts is a fair one,” she said.
The squad:
Bongiwe Msomi (captain); Karla Pretorius (vice-captain); Khanyisa Chawane; Izette Griesel; Owethu Ngubane; Refiloe Nketsa; Phumza Maweni; Lenize Potgieter; Lefebre Rademan; Nicola Smith; Jeante Strydom; Nichole Taljaard; Elmere van der Berg; Shadine van der Merwe and Ine-Mari Venter.
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