Malawi Queens face England first at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

The Queens celebrate after beating England at the 2012 Fast5 tournament

* Followed by Northern Ireland; New Zealand; Trinidad & Tobago and fellow Africans Uganda

By Duncan Mlanjira

Malawi National netball Team, the Queens, meet England on Saturday July 30 in their opening match of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games — followed by Northern Ireland; New Zealand; Trinidad & Tobago and fellow Africans Uganda.

The game against England — who are ranked 3rd on INF world rankings — will be played from 14:00hrs Malawi time followed by that against Northern Ireland the following day from 14:30hrs.

They will be up against New Zealand on Monday, August 1 from 20:00hrs; then Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday, August 3 from 20:00hrs and Uganda on Thursday, August 2 from 16:00hrs.

The Queens’ best result at the Commonwealth Games is being 5th in 2010 and 2014 and also achieved the same position in 2007 at the Netball World Cup — having participated in six times.

In 2012, they competed in the Fast5 tournament in Auckland, New Zealand where they had several historic results including wins over Australia and England to finish finished in 5th place, just narrowly missing out on the finals.

In the 2010 edition, they went on to draw against powerhouses Australia while at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Queens defeated the second-ranked team in the world, New Zeland — for the first time in history.

Nicknamed the Vitality Roses, England have won the Commonwealth Games once while winning the bronze medal at the Netball World Cup.

As for Northern Ireland, their best result was 7th in 2014 Commonwealth Games and 7th in the Netball World Cup in 1983.

New Zealand have won the Commonwealth Games twice in 2006 and 2010 while claiming the Netball World Cup five time — 1967, 1979, 1987, 2003 and 2019.

The Calypso Girls of Trinidad & Tobago’s best placing at the Commonwealth Games was 10th in 2014 and joint 1st in 1979 Netball World Cup while Uganda’s best result at Commonwealth Games is 6th in 2018 and 7th in 2019 Netball World Cup.

The She-Cranes are currently ranked seventh in the INF world rankings — one place behind the Queens.

The Queens were expected to play Scotland on Wednesday in a Test match to fine tune their preparations for the 2022 Birmingham Games.

Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary Isaac Chimwala told the media that the “team needs to have a feel of the court ahead of the games” and for the coach to get a chance to tie loose ends.

The squad has been beefed up by Australia-based netball star, Mwawi Kumwenda after four year-absence due to a career-threatening injury.

She sustained an interior cruciate ligament torn which kept her on the sidelines for close to a year.