Malawi Queens star shooters Joyce Mvula and Mwawi Kumwenda had contrasting fortunes on Sunday in the United Kingdom’s Vitality Netball Superleague and Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball, respectively.
While Mvula bagged the Vitality Netball’s Cardiff Metropolitan University Player of the Match Award for her sublime performance in her team Manchester Thunder’s 54-40 victory over Celtic Dragons, Kumwenda endured a tough weekend after her team Melbourne Vixens suffered a second consecutive loss following a 51-56 defeat by Sunshine Coast Lightning.
According to a match report on Vitality Netball Superleague website www.netballsl.com, Mvula was instrumental in defending champions Thunder’s victory with an incredible 97 percent shooting accuracy.
She scored 29 baskets and missed one basket.
“Thunder shooter Joyce Mvula was as dynamic as ever,” the report stated.
Thunder’s Facebook page waxed lyrical about Mvula’s display: “The incredible Joyce Mvula was scoring at 97 percent. Flowers and a medal are the least she deserves. Mvula blows our mind daily and thoroughly deserves Cardiff Metropolitan University Player of the Match award.”
Mvula, who is currently third on the league’s scorers list with 422 baskets, 138 baskets behind leading scorer Loughborough Lightning’s Mary Cholhok, yesterday said she was happy to have won the award.
“But what is important is that we are winning games as a team and we are on the right path to fulfilling our mission of defending the title,” she said.
Thunder are currently third on the 11-team logtable with 36 points from 14 games. They are nine points behind leaders Team Bath and three behind second-placed Lightning.
In the eight-team Suncorp Super Netball, Mwawi’s team is fifth on the table with no point after two straight losses.
“We are still building for this early season start. I wish we could have won the first two games, but we are getting there each week. Hoping for the best in games coming,” she said.
Inspite of that, Mwawi was touted as one of the outstanding performers during the encounter last weekend.
A match report on the league’s website reads in part: “Malawi international Mwai Kumwenda inspired a fourth-quarter revival to cut the margin to five points in the closing minutes, but it was not enough to prevent the Vixens from losing their opening two games for the first time in the Super Netball era.”
