Is She Cranes’ Vitality Cup mission over?

The national women’s netball team, She Cranes, suffered their second defeat in the ongoing Vitality Netball Nations Cup in Nottingham, United Kingdom.

The She Cranes' early signs of weakness were shown in their 70-45 defeat to South Africa in the first game of the tournament.

They were far from their best in terms of defending and the midfield was so weak thus allowing the SPAR Proteas to dominate them.

Making it worse, She Cranes did not have enough time to recover from such an unsatisfactory performance as they had to prepare for Malawi.

The odds were in She Cranes' favour against Malawi considering the former has won the last two encounters. However, the Malawi Queens came for revenge and wanted to take home a positive result.

Uganda lost to South Africa in the first game. Photo/Courtesy

She Cranes started off well with grit and determination to correct their mistakes from the first game against South Africa.

As the game progressed, She Cranes energy levels and fighting spirit went down and Malawi capitalised on that.

At the end of the first half, Malawi had a strong lead of 28-25. That should not have been a huge concern as She Cranes have recently shown their powers of recovery.

Malawi had other ideas for Uganda in the second half, they thoroughly put them on the edge forcing them into mistakes.

The 60-45 in favour of Malawi was so deserving in every sense of the game, they were intentional about their game strategy. They had figured out Uganda.

The Malawi result put Uganda in a very precarious position and dented their chances of finishing in a better position, let alone improving on their rankings.

Uganda failed to match Malawi in another loss. Courtesy Photo

The question now is, can She Cranes get a result against England in the second round of games to salvage their chances of going home with something?

Uganda is England’s bogey team. They have not won against the Roses in three consecutive encounters.

England are home and that is their fortress which now makes She Cranes the underdog, but an underdog that has a lot at stake.

Maybe we are asking too much from She Cranes, the majority of the local players have not played competitive games in over two years since the league was halted due to administrative issues.

Towards the end of 2024, there was a glimmer of hope that She Cranes were back and nothing could stop them from getting back at the top of their game.

Two games left to play in England but does She Cranes have it in them to fight and finish in a better position?