Zimbabwe has made history, winning their first ever match at the Netball World Cup. The Gems won their match against Sri Lanka by 79-49, kicking off what could be a thrilling journey.

Zimbabwe is one of four African teams at the tournament that is being hosted in Liverpool, England. The others are Malawi, Uganda and South Africa.

The Zimbabwe Gems are in Group A, along with reigning champions Australia and Northern Ireland.

Zimbabwe are something of an unknown quality and will look to capitalise on that against higher ranked teams.

The Gems took the lead from the onset taking the first quarter 19-14. They maintained the lead to end the second quarter at 38-29 despite a slow start. They were up 53-42 in the third quarter and they wrapped up the game in the last quarter to claim a 79-49 win over Sri Lanka as they backed by a vocal crowd that came to rally behind the team.

It was a deserved win for Zimbabwe, who had the backing of their supporters who came in their numbers and were up in songs throughout the match.

Goal shooter Joice Takaidza had a good day on court with a 95 percent conversion rate as she converted 59 out of the 62 shots.

In the other Group A game, Australia were leading Northern Ireland at halftime by 45-15. The game eventually ended 88-24 in favour of the Australia diamonds.