Netball Proteas wary of Jamaica Sunshine Girls’ ‘good aerial game’

Rowan Callaghan

The Proteas netball team acknowledge that they will have to reinvent themselves during their exciting tour of Jamaica, despite their victorious African campaign.

The South Africans, who finished 2024 on a high as the No.1-ranked team on the continent, travel to the Caribbean to take on Jamaica in the three-Test Margaret Beckford Sunshine series in Kingston.

Jamaica recently moved into third spot in the world rankings, behind Australia and New Zealand, after beating England in a Test series.

The Proteas and the Sunshine Girls have played each other 18 times, with SA winning on three occasions, most notably in the Netball World Cup in Liverpool in 2019, where they claimed a 55-52 victory, earning a spot in the semi-finals.

“It’s my biggest challenge since taking over as coach,” said national team mentor Jenny van Dyk.

“It’s always tough playing in the Caribbean, but I went to the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in 2023, so I am used to that kind of atmosphere.

“The humidity may also be a problem. Our strategy will be to close the gap in the scoreline and then to go in hard, looking for the win.”

The South Africans will be buoyed by their recent romp to the Africa Netball Cup title at the MTC Dome in Swakopmund, Namibia in December, where they beat Uganda 65-50 in the final.

Assistant coach Zanele Mdodana, who was a member of the Proteas team when they last played in Jamaica, admits that it will be a very different challenge playing the Caribbean side at home.

“The Sunshine Girls have had quite a good 2024. They played England and they beat England, so we are coming up against a very different style of netball compared to what we’ve been exposed to the past couple of months because we had Uganda, Malawi. We know the African style of play. Jamaica is slightly different,” she told Independent Media Sport exclusively.

“There are some similarities, but very different because they’ve got the good aerial game.

“They’ve got the height in the shooting circle and that agility, very athletic players.

“So, we are going to have to adapt and reinvent ourselves and come up with solutions on how to counter that Jamaican style.

“But we’re looking forward to the experience and a challenge. We believe that it’s important for us to play higher-ranked teams to gauge ourselves, see where we are, what needs work – how far are we from those top teams in the world.

“The bigger picture is the 2027 World Cup, and it’s exciting times for us as Netball South Africa – and I think our girls are excited to take on this challenge.”

The matches in Jamaica will be played on January 18, 22 and 25 at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston. From Jamaica, the Proteas will travel to the UK to play in the Vitality Netball Nations Cup next month. The other teams taking part are England, Uganda and Malawi.

The South African Under-21 team, the Baby Proteas, will also travel with the senior side to Jamaica to play a friendly series against their Jamaican counterparts.

This forms part of the Baby Proteas’ build-up to the Netball World Youth Cup, which will be staged in Gibraltar in September.