Ken Borland

KAMOGELO Maseko is the baby of the Spar Proteas team at just 18 years old, but when she made her international debut in the first Test against Malawi this week at the Sun City Superbowl and succeeded with three of her four shots at goal it was indicative of the great job coach Dorette Badenhorst is doing in nurturing the South African team.

There are big things on the horizon for the Proteas, most especially the World Cup South Afrca will be hosting in Cape Town in 2023, an ideal opportunity for the country to medal for the first time since 1995, when they were runners-up to Australia in Birmingham.

In their first assignment since January, after which Covid-19 brought all sport to a full stop, the Proteas, ranked fifth in the world, have clinched their series against world number six Malawi with convincing 65-25 and 62-29 victories in the first two Tests, and they will be hot favouites to achieve a 3-0 clean sweep in the final match on Sunday afternoon.

Apart from how impressively South Africa have performed, a feature of the series has been Badenhorst’s willingness to give all 12 members of the matchday squad a go, while also moving players around to try out different combinations. Which is why someone llike Maseko now has two caps against top-class opposition as Badenhorst looks to bring new stars through for 2023.

“There are different combinations I wanted to work on, so I tried some of those out and I’m happy that that’s a goal we reached. There are not necessarily just certain combinations we want to play with and I’m a happy coach because we did some experimenting but still played really great netball. Malawi are not easy opponents and the scores don’t reflect how tough and physical the games were.

“I want to be able to start with any player. So someone like Tshina Mdau made her debut as well but she is a starter. Kamogelo is a great talent, she has a great future, but we need to protect her and give her opportunity. She was very nervous before her first game but she played unbelievably well and enjoyed it. And the experienced players are showing such leadership that it makes it easier to make changes,” Badenhorst said.

Captain Bongi Msomi is one of those experienced players, at 32 years old and playing for the Proteas since 2011, consistently producing the goods and she shares Badenhorst’s vision of empowering a larger pool of players who can ensure South Africa improve on their fourth-place finish in the 2019 World Cup.

“Everyone who has stepped out on to court has been fantastic, the work-rate has been outstanding, and everyone is doing their best to make the combinations work, which is what we are about as a team. So I’m really pleased because the coaches have not had much time with us. It’s wonderful if any combination can go on and pull it through for us.

“The Spar Proteas have to be a team that has depth, we cannot just rely on the same seven people on court, we have to trust the players coming from the bench as well. Our youngest players are stepping up and really enjoying what they do, and the fact that they trust us senior players to support them shows out on court. The whole team is excited about the debuts Tshina and Kamogelo made,” Msomi said.

Badenhorst professes that she does have a ‘first’ line-up in mind and has been happy in the first two Tests for them to start and lay the solid platform that enables her to then try out new players and new combinations. But she believes she will need all 18 players in the greater squad to achieve their goals at the World Cup.

“You don’t always get the opportunity to give everyone game time so it’s been great to allow the whole squad to showcase their talent and for me to see what they can do.

“It’s important for our rankings and the confidence of the team that we finish on a high and win the series 3-0, we don’t want to go into Christmas with a loss but with a good win. Plus it will be important for our preparation for the series against Uganda in January,” Badenhorst said.