“It will be a busy year and then of course, we start preparing for a home World Cup in 2023,” SPAR Proteas national coach Dorette Badenhorst said on Thursday. This after South Africa was named the host country of the global spectacle in February.
With less than 18 months to go to the World Cup in Cape Town, there is growing excitement about the SPAR Proteas national team, which occupies position five in world rankings.
SPAR Proteas were dominant on the continent, winning all their matches, but finished fourth in the Quad series in England, where they played against Australia, New Zealand, and England.
Dorette Badenhorst is excited about the year ahead. “For the first time, we are less than 20 points behind Jamaica on the world rankings, which is very encouraging,” she said.
“We have played a lot of netball, despite the pandemic. We had a Test series against Malawi in 2020, and then we played a Test series against Uganda in Cape Town. We travelled to Northern Ireland, but those weren’t ranking matches.
“And then of course, we played in the African Cup of Nations in Namibia, which we won.”
Badenhorst added that there would be several mini-weekend training camps, as well as a full training camp during the Easter period, ahead of the Telkom Netball League, which gets under way in May.
“After that, we travel to the United Kingdom for practice matches ahead of the Commonwealth Games. We have approached Wales to play a couple of warm-up matches and we also plan to play against England.”
Badenhorst said there was a good spirit among the players, who are excited about the year ahead. The 12 top-ranked countries will play in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham later in 2022.
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