South Africa produced a superb opening five minutes on their way to a 4-1 victory over Namibia in the third Test of the series at Elkanah House.
Image: ACK Sports Photography
Thati Zulu captained the South African side, who were looking to build on victories in the opening two matches of the four-Test series.
The hosts could hardly have asked for a better start as they raced into a three-goal lead inside the opening five minutes.
Hannah Pearce opened the scoring in the second minute, calmly converting a penalty stroke to continue her impressive scoring form in the series.
South Africa immediately increased the pressure and doubled their advantage shortly afterwards. Stephanie Botha played an excellent ball through the Namibian defence, allowing Zulu to finish and mark her opportunity as captain with a goal.
The score quickly became 3-0 when Zulu shaped to shoot inside the circle. The ball continued through to Bianca Wood, who finished superbly to complete a dominant opening spell from the South Africans.
Following the fast start, South Africa continued to enjoy much of the possession and created several promising attacking opportunities.
They will, however, be disappointed that they were unable to maintain the same level of intensity and put further distance between themselves and a determined Namibian side.
Namibia remained organised, worked hard defensively and prevented South Africa from adding to the score for much of the remainder of the contest.
South Africa eventually found their fourth goal in the final quarter when Pearce converted a second penalty stroke, completing her brace for the match.
Namibia continued to compete until the end and were rewarded with their first goal of the series when Charlize Rix scored a late consolation past Marlise van Tonder.
The result gives South Africa an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series, with all three victories providing valuable preparation ahead of the FIH Hockey World Cup.
The fourth and final Test of the series takes place at Hartleyvale on Friday at 10:00.
