Malawi Queens were on Thursday were handed a shameful 40-basket margin loss in the first match by South Africa alias Spar Proteas in the Spar International Netball Test Series.
The Queens lost 65-25 as Coach Peace Chawinga’s trusted shooter Sindi Simtowe, 33, lost a number of chances proving that fuel is running out of the tanker and she cannot take much anymore. 
In a pre-match interview, Chawinga said they had dedicated the match to departed former Queens coach Griffin Saenda, who answered God’s calling on Thursday morning at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre.
However, it seems the team did not give what it promised as in the first 15 minutes the team was trailing 15 to 6 baskets with some hope that things may turn around in the second quarter.
Worse still at the end of the half time, the Queens were down with 22 baskets as the hosts had scored 31 because of their good coordination from their back up to the goal circle.
Come third quarter, Spar Proteas Coach Dorette Badenhorst made several changes including bringing Tshina Mdau on her debut playing in the wing defence and at the end she got most valuable player award because of her outstanding performance.
Malawi failed to turn the fortunes around despite having so much old guards in the field as South Africa which gave many youths a chance was able to penetrate and play with the ball everywhere on the field.
The two are expected to meet again at 19h00 on Friday in the second match before wrapping up the series on Sunday afternoon as both sides are aware that the results have an impact on the world rankings.
Chawinga in a post-match interview said: “We failed to penetrate, we struggled at the centre and front, tomorrow is another day.”
