Veteran defender Karla Pretorius celebrated her 100th cap for the Spar Proteas with a comfortable 87-32 victory over Sri Lanka at the Netball World Cup on Saturday.
“It is always great celebrating a milestone like this. There’s a lot that have reached the milestone before me and made it look so much fun,” Pretorius told the media.
“But it’s just so special to celebrate it with this team, in front of a South African crowd on home soil, and in front of my family and friends.”
Pretorius had to wait until halftime to get out on the court for her milestone appearance though as coach Norma Plummer rejigged the hosts’ starting seven.
Mindful of Sunday’s all-important clash against powerhouse Jamaica, who also completed a second consecutive thrashing of Wales earlier in the day, Plummer initially rested many of her stalwarts.
Youngsters Elmeré van der Berg and Nichole Taljaard were paired up front with Friday’s Player of the Match Ine-marie Venter rested until the fourth quarter. Veteran defenders Phumza Maweni and Pretorius were also given time to put their feet up on the bench along with influential centre Khanyisa Chawane.
Van der Berg would have been grateful for another run-out after a disappointing opening game performance when the occasion seemed to get the better of the 22-year-old.
But as Plummer had claimed in the Wales post-match briefing that the recent Varsity Cup Player of the Tournament was “a champion for the future” and was confident that the youngster would bounce back.
The North West University star certainly repaid her coach’s faith with a superb performance that would have boosted her confidence.
Van der Berg’s accuracy in front of the net improved significantly as the Proteas dominated their Asian opponents. She also became the first individual player at this Netball World Cup to score 50 points in one game.
“She had hardly been out on the main arena before at all, I think she got a taste in Commonwealth Games before that, so the process is to put them out there and let them get a taste of it and she stood up well tonight,” Plummer said of the youngster.
The Proteas’ slick movement of the ball through their energetic captain Bongi Msomi during the first half troubled the Sri Lankans significantly, which allowed Taljaard (24/27) to also regularly find the net.
With the Proteas in complete control at halftime through a 45-18 lead, Plummer pulled off her skipper Msomi in order to recharge the batteries.
The home side, though, still had enough experience out on the court with Pretorius and Chawane coming on to close out the game.
The Proteas can now look forward to their much-anticipated clash with Jamaica in high spirits, but they are acutely aware that they need to considerably raise their performance against the Caribbean side that are littered with stars competing in the “NBA of Netball” in Australia.
“Tomorrow (Sunday) is a different game. Playing Sri Lanka today was great, but they are down on the ladder in the rankings. Tomorrow is a step up against the silver medalists from the Commonwealth Games,” Plummer said.
“It is a totally different game, different mindset. They’ve been around a long time. Seven of their players play in the Australian league, the NBA of netball, so they are really primed and ready to go.
“We know we need to play a lot smarter. It’s a totally different game. Putting the ball in the air with Shamera Sterling down at the backend could be disastrous for us. We will get away with one or two, but we won’t get away with as many as we did (against Sri Lanka). Technically we need to be a lot sharper and smarter in how we approach the match.”
IOL Sport