Lankan netballers get exposure in Botswana

Sri Lanka Netball team and officials after Botswana game. (Pic courtesy Sri Lanka Netball media)

We had good match practise at Botswana before Netball World Cup said Sri Lanka Netball head coach Thilaka Jinadasa after Botswana practise games yesterday.

We played out first international matches before World cup during this short Botswana tour and we expect to reach Cape Town, South Africa on July 25 for World Cup. Here in Botswana we played against Botswana National team and lost to them 51-70. But winning is not important and this is our first International game as a National team which gave good exposure added Thilaka Jinadasa. Botswana game we made 12-16, 13-10, 19-13, 15-23 in four quarters. We had 3-4 difference at 1-2 quarters and then we made changes of the team to give opportunity for all which is important before the World Cup.

In the second game Vs Botswana Police team Sri Lanka recorded 70-36 win and got confidence with winning mentality.

We have to play our first world cup match against Jamaica and second one against host South Africa. Playing against Botswana gave much needed exposure to the team and we hope to do better at World cup. We also got good support from Sri Lankans in Botswana and Botswana Netball Federation. Sri Lanka team was expected to play their third Botswana game against their Defence services yesterday and then leave for Cape Town.