The Mpumalanga Sunbirds, a provincial netball team, are promising a better game on Friday and Saturday at the ongoing Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League, held at the Ellis Park Indoor Area.
Yesterday the team played against Western Cape Southern Stings. “We are ready for them. We brought a team that can go along well with the Stings,” said Thembisile Mdluli, the assistant coach before the start of the game.
Last week the team played against the Free State Crinums and lost 46-25. They also lost 26-46 on Saturday to Gauteng Golden Fireballs.
Mdluli said compared to last year’s performance, there is a huge improvement.
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“The previous games were tough. Although we already lost two games, there is a lot of improvement in the team as compared to last year during this league. The goal difference was very huge last year compared to this year’s,” she said.
“We struggled in the first quarter, but the team played better after that. We have some very young players – two of them were still at school last year. However, we also have some very experienced players and I think we are going to do much better this year,” she said.
Mdluli also praised experienced players including Nonhlanhla Noni Mngoma from Gert Sibande, who will play in the mid-back on Friday and Saturday. The assistant coach believes Noni is the best for the position due to her height. The team is expected back in the province on Saturday evening.
The Brutal Fruit Netball Cup is a South African semi-professional netball league. It was launched by Netball South Africa on April 16, 2014. Brutal Fruit holds a five-year naming sponsorship to the league, expiring in 2019. The championship is contested by 10 teams from all South African provinces over a five-week period.
