She Cranes targeting Scotland scalp at WC

Uganda were at sixes and sevens against England in Friday night’s opener at the World Cup and must make amends today. PHOTO BY SWPix

NETBALL- Bullied by England on Friday night in 64-32 humiliating loss, Uganda’s She Cranes will be looking to bounce back into World Cup contention against Scotland at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool this morning.

The She Cranes will today extend their Netball World Cup expedition against the Scottish Thistles after two highly anticipated rubbers against second ranked England Roses and 14th placed Samoa on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The She Cranes lost their opening fixture against hosts England 64–32 and are hopeful to correct their mistakes as they look to progress to the next stage of the competition.

Poor team selection that saw a renowned Goal Attacker (GA) Stella Oyella deployed as a Centre (C) was partly to blame for the She Cranes dismal show in their opening fixture on Friday.

It was a nightmarish night for Oyella who passing and marking raised many eyebrows. She received two verbal warnings in the first half before eventually being sin-binned for two minutes in the third quarter for contact with Chelsea Pitman.

Then with the scores on 48-24 for England early on in the fourth quarter, Oyella was given a second warning for persistent infringement and Uganda had to play the final 12 minutes of the match with just six players. England made the extra player count and pulled further ahead, taking the final quarter by 14 goals. However this served as a lesson to the She Cranes technical team not to tinker with the squad and playing roles at such a crucial stage - World Cup.

“We are going to work even harder, we need to win more games in this competition,” said a resolute goal attacker Rachael Nanyonga.
The She Cranes beat Scottish Thistles 57-37 in Commonwealth Games last year in Australia and are looking forward to replicating this performance today’s game.

Uganda will rely on the expertise of captain Peace Proscovia who plays for Australia’s Sunshine Coast Lightning and other mainstays including Nanyonga, Lilian Ajio and Ruth Meeme against Scotland’s youthful team.
In other opening fixtures, World Cup debutants Zimbabwe registered a historical win of 79 – 49 against Sri Lanka with Malawi succumbing to New Zealand.

NETBALL WORLD CUP
TODAY’S FIXTURE
Uganda vs. Scotland
LIVE SS9, 11.05am
Selected Results - Day One
England 64-32 Uganda
New Zealand 64-45 Malawi
Barbados 69-34 Singapore
Australia 88-24 N. Ireland
Zimbabwe 79-49 Sri Lanka