Cape Town - There are just two and a half months to go before the start of the Netball World Cup in Liverpool on July 12 and plans are underway to provide the Proteas national netball team with the best possible preparation for the World Cup.

These plans include an intensive training camp and a Test series against Wales.

Eight of South Africa’s top players are currently playing in the three best netball leagues in the world – the Super Netball League in Australia,  the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand and the Netball Superleague in England, where they are gaining invaluable experience against some of the world’s best players.

Proteas head coach Norma Plummer, who coached the Australian Diamonds to two World Cup gold medals, will be in South Africa for the training camp from April 28 to May 5.

“The eight players competing in Australia (Karla Pretorius, Phumza Maweni, Ine-Marie Venter) , New Zealand (Lenize Potgieter) and England  (Bongi Msomi, Shadine Van de Merwe, Maryka Holtzhausen, Sigi Burger) will obviously not be able to take part in the camp, but we will work with the rest of the squad, preparing for the World Cup,” said Plummer.

The 21 invited players will arrive in Pretoria on Saturday April 28, and the training camp will start the following day.  For the first days, the camp will be held at St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls before moving to the Rembrandt Hall at the Tuks Sport Centre for the last two days.

The final team will be announced on the June 26.

Plummer said that international commitments meant the whole team would not be able to get together until their arrival in Wales for the pre-World Cup Tests.

“We leave South Africa on June 28 and have four days preparation before the two Test matches on July 4 and 5,” said Plummer.

“We leave Wales for Liverpool on July 6, and will continue our preparations for our first match at the World Cup on July 12 against Trinidad and Tobago”

All test matches against Wales will be played in Cardiff, Wales.