Netballers in tough first up match

The New Zealand netball team were given an almighty fright by Malawi in the opening match of their Commonwealth Games campaign today.

Waimarama Taumaunus team produced an error-prone display and it required a late surge for them to squeak to a 50-47 victory.

With 11 minutes remaining the scores were locked at 39-39 and there was an increasing likelihood that Malawi might produce one of the biggest upsets in netball test history.

Taumaunu was clearly unimpressed with her teams effort.

I was disappointed, she said. I thought there were too many errors and was disappointed in the number of offensive penalties. Those are things we need to tidy up.

Malawi built their strategy around the wonderful goal-shooting of lanky Mwai Kumwenda, who shot 38 goals from 39 attempts and proved a handful for New Zealand defenders Katrina Grant (playing her 50th test), Leana de Bruin and Casey Kopua.

For New Zealand, Maria Tutaia played half a game at goal attack and managed 12 goals from 15 attempts. Cathrine Latu played the full 60 minutes at goal shoot and was unerringly accurate, with 30 from 31. However, Jodi Brown, who replaced Tutaia, struggled and managed just eight goals from 14 shots.

The statistics were revealing. New Zealand manufactured 60 attempts at goal to Malawis 51. But the Silver Ferns also conceded far more penalties, and that hurt them.

The umpiring in these international tournaments can be erratic, but Taumaunu noted it was up to her players to deal with that.

The match will certainly give the New Zealanders plenty to think about because in their final pool game they meet Jamaica. If they had trouble dealing with Kumwendas height, they will certainly struggle to counter the tall Jamaican shooters.

New Zealand, who have won the last two Commonwealth Games gold medals, led 14-13 at quarter-time. It was 25-25 at halftime and 37-35 to New Zealand at three-quarter-time.

New Zealands next game is against Scotland tomorrow.