Excellent mid-court play from Scotland strangled Sri Lanka to secure a comfortable 69-48 win in the opening match of the 8th Netball World Youth Cup 2017 at the UB Indoor Sports Arena in Gaborone, Botswana.
It was an even exchange in the 1st quarter with both teams finding their feet in the match. Sri Lanka’s Goal Shooter Mellony Wijesinghe and Goal Attack Kaveena Rajapaksha combined well to pose some threat to the defenders with their height but it was Scotland who took a 3-point lead going into the 2nd quarter with the score reading 17-14.
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Scotland went on a 5-0 run early in the 2nd quarter as they extended the score to 26-17. There was a lot of pressure put on the inexperienced Sri Lankan mid-court, which only had Sachini Rodrigo as an experienced player. Scotland extended the lead to 11 points to go into half time.
Half time – Scotland 33 – 22 Sri Lanka
The deficit went up to 13 points but Sri Lanka fought back to reduce it to 10 points with the score reading 39-29. Thereafter the Islanders went on their best scoring run of 4-0 to make it 41-33 but Scotland again managed to wrestle back to make the scores 46-33. The Sri Lankan girls never backed down as they finished the 3rd quarter on a 4-1 run with the score reading 47-37.
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The 4th quarter was a complete meltdown much like the 2nd quarter as Scotland outscored Sri Lanka 10-3 early in the final quarter to make it 57-40. Sri Lanka were plagued with mid-court errors with intercepted passes and indecision but managed to keep the deficit to around 16 points. However, Scotland finished off the game in a flurry with an 8-1 scoring run.
Full time – Scotland 69 – 48 Sri Lanka
| Team | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | Full Time |
| Scotland |
17 |
16 | 14 | 22 |
69 |
| Sri Lanka |
14 |
8 | 15 | 11 |
48 |
Sri Lanka will play their next game on July 9th against Northern Ireland at 3.30pm (SL Time).
