In a not-so surprising turn of events, Trinidadian netball sensation Samantha Wallace-Joseph has been released by the New South Wales Swifts, by mutual agreement, mere months after returning from a two-year hiatus due to knee surgery. The Suncorp Super League franchise announced the departure on Thursday, citing issues related to her behavior within the team environment.
Wallace-Joseph, a pivotal player for the Swifts, had missed multiple games recently, contributing to the team’s three-game losing streak. The Swifts, last year’s grand finalists, now find themselves in a three-way tie for fifth place on the ladder, a position far below their usual standards.
The Swifts confirmed the split in a statement, explaining that it was a mutual decision made after weeks of discussions with Wallace-Joseph and her management.
"For the past number of weeks, the club has been working with Samantha Wallace-Joseph and her management in relation to a matter which concerned her behaviour within the team environment,” the statement read. “For the wellbeing of all concerned the nature of the matter will remain confidential. However, it has been mutually agreed that parting ways is the best way forward for both Samantha and the club.”
This development comes after the Swifts had previously shown unwavering support for Wallace-Joseph during her recovery from a serious knee injury. Her comeback, however, was overshadowed by controversy following anti-transgender comments she made on social media, which stirred significant public backlash.
The Swifts emphasized the importance of maintaining high behavioral standards within their team, stating, “The behavioural standard expected of everyone in the Swifts environment – across players, coaches and staff – is team first and there are no exceptions to that.”
Wallace-Joseph, who joined the Swifts in 2017, has been a key figure in the team’s success, playing 84 games and securing Premierships in 2019 and 2021. Despite her departure under strained circumstances, the Swifts expressed their gratitude for her contributions, saying, “The Swifts thank Samantha for her service to the Club.”
As the netball community processes this shocking news, the Swifts have made it clear that they will not be making any further comments on the matter at this time.
Wallace-Joseph's departure marks a significant chapter in her career, and her next steps will be closely watched by fans and analysts alike. Meanwhile, the Swifts will need to regroup quickly as they aim to recover from their current slump and return to their winning ways.
Thunderbirds coach Tania Obst praises work rate of Jamaican defender Latanya Wilson in title push
Adelaide Thunderbirds Head coach Tania Obst has lauded the work rate of Jamaican Latanya Wilson in the push to retain their title, as they dynamic defender consistently displays immense potential and versatility on a weekly basis in the Suncorp Super Netball League.
Obst’s praise for Wilson follows the Thunderbirds’ comprehensive 26-goal win over the Melbourne Mavericks last Saturday, which kept their spotless home record alive this season. In fact, that win not only pushed Thunderbirds up to second on the ladder, but more importantly, guaranteed them finals action in 2024.
The competitions best defence were at their stingy best once again, keeping the Mavericks to just 41 goals, and just 16 goals from a mere 20 attempts in the second half.
Mavericks fans might have expected their side to make inroads in the second quarter when Thunderbirds star and Jamaican goalkeeper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey left the court, but the equally dynamic, if undersized, Wilson stepped up to the plate.
Wilson looked more than comfortable in the goalkeeper bib, as she racked up four deflections, two gains, one rebound, one pickup and 32 Nissan Net Points across her 13-minute stint in the position.
Obst obviously would have preferred if Sterling-Humphrey did not have to leave the court, but she found a silver lining in Wilson’s move to the last line of defence.
Tania Obst
“Goalkeeper isn’t unfamiliar for her [Wilson]; she has played there,” Obst said, referencing Wilson’s previous playing experience outside the SSN.
“To be able to swing Latty [Wilson] back, gets Hannah (Petty) onto the court at wing defence and that allowed us to see some other things and get some more evidence around things we do really well with different combinations,” the coach added.
Wilson has been nothing short of incredible this season.
The 23-year-old sits second in the competition for intercepts on 38 and is in the top five for both deflections (65) and gains (65).
Obst pointed out that Wilson’s hunger to grow has been the main catalyst behind her step up this season.
Shamera Sterling-Humphrey left the court after getting knocked in the face.
“She is growing every time she hits the training track. She goes to training wanting to know what it is she’s working on and what does it (her role) look like for her this week. She just has an ability to be in the right position to be able to see where her player is as well as the ball,” Obst shared.
The Thunderbirds once again utilised their bench to its full capacity in the win over the Mavericks, something they have done weekly this season following their success with the same tactic last year.
Obst believes this flexibility represents a major part of their push for back-to-back premierships. Another Jamaican, Romelda Aiken-George has been leading the Thunderbirds attacking line.
“We have players now who have been together for a while. They have done the hard yards, years of work, not just this year, and that is starting to play to our strengths,” Obst noted.
“To be able to roll people on and off the court in different positions and it is pretty seamless, and to be able to push on every quarter is going to be a real strength of ours moving forward,” she declared.
Afghanistan win topsy-turvy Bangladesh clash to eliminate Australia from World Cup
Afghanistan reached the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time and eliminated Australia from the tournament with a dramatic eight-run win over Bangladesh.
Afghanistan entered the final game of the Super 8s requiring a victory to join England, India and South Africa in the last four, while Bangladesh themselves could still qualify via net run-rate with a handsome win.
Both Bangladesh and Australia might have been positive regarding their prospects when Afghanistan reached just 115 in their innings.
Even Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 43 came off 55 balls as they made slow progress, before the opener handed Soumya Sarkar a simple catch off a 17th-over delivery from Rishad Hossain, who impressed with figures of 3-26.
It was the Bangladesh innings that brought the drama, though.
Repeated rain stoppages meant they were left chasing a series of revised targets, and the losses of Najmul Hossain Shanto (5) and Shakib Al Hasan on back-to-back third-over balls, the latter for a golden duck, made their chances of qualification unlikely.
However, they could still send Australia through with any victory, and opener Litton Das did his best to do so, making an unbeaten 54 as wickets tumbled around him.
With Bangladesh nine runs from victory but with just one wicket remaining in the 18th over, it was Naveen-ul-Haq who sealed Afghanistan's place in the last four.
He joined captain Rashid Khan on four dismissals by trapping Mustafizur Rahman lbw, ensuring Afghanistan will face South Africa in a historic semi-final in Trinidad on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Farooqi earns a slice of history
While Afghanistan captain Khan (4-23) and Naveen (4-26) hogged the headlines on a historic day for the team, team-mate Fazalhaq Farooqi also had an outing to remember. He trapped Tanzid Hasan lbw for the first wicket of the Bangladesh innings, his 16th wicket at this year's tournament.
That drew him level with Sri Lanka's PW Hasaranga (in 2022) for the most wickets in a single edition of the T20 World Cup, and he will look to take the record outright against South Africa later this week.
Sharma backed himself to be 'smart' with the bat in big India win
Rohit Sharma says he was "backing himself" for a big game after inspiring India to the win over Australia that saw them into the T20 World Cup semi-finals on Monday.
Sharma became India's top scorer in T20Is, with his knock of 92 taking him to 4165, leapfrogging Virat Kohli's record of 4103.
After a strong batting performance, India smothered what looked like a spirited chase by Australia to win by 24 runs and set up a meeting with England in the next round.
Sharma admitted he was confident heading into the match and backed himself to outsmart Australia’s bowlers.
That's what I have to do at the top of the order, see what the bowlers are trying to do and play accordingly," Sharma said.
"There was a strong breeze and I needed to be smart. I was backing myself to do that.
"You've got to factor in the breeze and the bowlers are smart as well. They won't bowl into the wind, and you can't be one-dimensional.
"You have to access all sides of the field. It's been a good wicket and that's something you want to do as a batter, and you want to back yourself as a batter to play those shots.
"Getting the century didn't matter. I wanted to bat with the same tempo throughout and put the bowlers under pressure.
"You want to make big scores, yes. But you also want the bowlers to wonder where the next shot is going to come from."
Meanwhile, Australia's World Cup fate is now out of their own hands.
If Afghanistan beat Bangladesh in the later game, Australia will be knocked out, though even a big Bangladesh win would knock them out on net run rate.
"Yeah, it's so disappointing," Mitchell Marsh said. "We know we still have a chance to make the semis but today, India got the better of us.
"Over 40 overs there are a lot of small moments that you can think you could have done things better. But they got off to a flyer. Rohit Sharma is very hard to stop when he's in that mode. He deserves all the credit for that.
"We knew that if we kept up with 10 an over for as long as possible, we were in the game. But India have some class bowlers, and they were too good for us today.
"Come on Bangladesh!"
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