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Veronica Gwaze-Sports Reporter

IT will be a match highly expected to be full of class and craft as Premier Netball League defending champions Platinum Queens take on perennial rivals ZDF Queens in their second PNL games of the season at Bethany Netball Grounds in  Zvishavane today.

Played in a bubble series format, 17 teams will clash at various venues across the country as they gun for the 2022 championship title.

The highly-anticipated contest of the giants’ comes with a lot of sub-plots premised on history which all adds more spice to the clash which has highly been advertised to hype the locals in Zvishavane.

Beitbridge Border and Masvingo City Queens will also be part of the bubble.

The platinum miners will be playing at home for the first time since 2019, a few months before games had to be suspended due to Covid-19 outbreak.

Platinum Queens assistant coach, Stembile Banda, is optimistic that her charges will deliver despite her and the head coach Simbarashe Mlambo’s three weeks’ absence after which they rejoined the team yesterday.

The duo has been camping in Harare with the national Under-19 team in the first instalment of a series of camps in preparation of the Africa Union Sports Council Region Five Youth Games scheduled for December in Malawi.

“Despite our absence, we are confident that our ladies will deliver because we have been preparing for it for some time now, almost three weeks to be precise,” Banda said.

“We were supposed to play the Independence Trophy in-between but could not and we then refocused our energy to this bubble, there will be four teams and ZDF Queens are our biggest rival.

“However, it is not going to be a huge challenge for us because, according to history, we have been beating them despite the tight contest.” Banda said her squad will make use of home advantage and the presence of their supporters. In the coaches’ absence, the captains have been taking charge of the training sessions.

“It is not tough for our girls to train and prepare on their own because they are professional and they have always been doing well,” added Banda.

“We constantly communicated, gave the captains the training schedule and they would co-ordinate the sessions which is not a problem, we expect them to do well and they have always shown a great zeal to work on their own.

“They are also motivated to play at home for the first time since 2019 which is a great thing for Zvishavane as a community as well and we are looking forward to it.”

ZDF Queens head coach, Joel Sibanda, is also unfazed.

 “Looking at the end of last season and this season so far, we have upped our game in both performance and the scores.

“We had to focus more on our defence as well to avoid conceding a lot of goals because it may cost us in the end, remember we are only starting the season,” said Sibanda.

“It has always been a stiff battle with the Platinum side so we need all the mental strength especially because we are away, however, we have a pool of experienced players and that should work to our advantage,” said the gaffer. Elsewhere, University of Zimbabwe, Blue Angels and Waterfalls Queens will be battling it out at UZ grounds.

In Ngezi, the miners will be facing rivals Harare City and Green Fuels while Mutare City, Black Rhinos and Lupane State University clash at Beit Hall, Mutare.

In Marondera, Zupco Queens will be facing the hosts, Marondera Queens, Harare Polytechnic and Victoria Riders.