The Uganda She Cranes performance against Wales at the on-going Netball World in Australia on Monday against Wales could simply be summarized as exhilarating. Although Uganda lost 49-47 on the day, the match was so close to call for the two sides until the dying 50 seconds of the game.
Both sides entered the fixture undefeated from the earlier two group D games played. Uganda opening with a massive 74-38 victory against Zambia on day one and the incredible 61-40 over Fiji in the subsequent fixture as Wales registered victories against the same opposition. In a fast paced mouth watering group D fixture held at the state of the art Allphones Netball Arena, the two sides played a neck – to – neck game.
By the eclipse of the opening quarter of action, the scores were glued 15 goals apiece – thanks to the mean defences and exceptional shooting abilities of either teams. United Kingdom netball league ‘shooting foes’, Peace Proscovia (Loughbourgh Lightning) and Chelsea Lewis (Dragon Celtics) were flawless for Uganda and Wales respectively.
The second quarter witnessed yet another speedy encounter with Uganda playing second fiddle – equalizing the 26 goal mark in the final seconds of the game before Lewis stole it at the death of the quarter27-26 for Wales by the half time break.
Uganda returned with an energized performance in the third quarter leading 39 – 35 but the real netball action was played in the final quarter. Each side that possessed the center put the advantage to efficient use until Uganda had a turn over at the death that the Welsh put to great use won the day 49-47 to top group D coming into Tuesday’s next group games. The Kyra Jones and Rukia Meme center battle was as eye catching as Rachael Nanyonga, Peace Proscovia and Chelsea Lewis free scoring prowess. Wales successfully scored 49 goals on the 56 attempts (87%) with Uganda returning 47 on 55 attempts (85%).
