The Zimbabwe netball Gems were held to a heartbreaking last-minute draw by Botswana in a pulsating African Championships encounter at the Botswana Netball Courts on Tuesday.

Leading by three scores with less than three minutes to play, Zimbabwe allowed their opponents to come back into the match and salvage a hard-fought 47-47 result.

It was a dramatic finish to a clash that swung either way from the onset and the deciding stanza was even more gripping.

Zimbabwe went into the final stanza leading 34-33, but poor passing which was frequent through-out their play saw them quickly fall behind at 34-36.

But a passing gaffe by Botswana brilliant shooter Hilder Binang saw Zimbabwe take advantage and reduced the gap to one and they did well to utilize their center pass to lead by one goal.

One widened to three, but Zimbabwe, maybe aiming to kill the game, rushed their passes and lost position at a crucial stage and it was evident it was one point lost rather than gained when the final whistle was blown.

The match had began with verve and energy on a cool sunny morning. The hosts smoothly edged ahead opening a three point buffer from their smart play which forced Zimbabwe into hurried passes.

But the Gems re-organized to restore parity at 7-7 with their defense continuing with their impressive displays.

Zimbabwe’s shoddy shooting allowed Botswana to lead 9-7as their shooter Hilder Binang was reliable under the hoop.

However, Zimbabwe’s inspirational captain Perpetual Siyachitema drove the mid court play to help the Gems steal the first set 12-11.

It was another gripping start to the second set with both teams enjoying short spells of dominance.

Botswana took control and maintained a two point lead, but both teams were closing in on space with some tight marking.

Momentum swung into Zimbabwe’s way again with some a lovely quick passing carousel that put them on 19-18.

Botswana’s captain Portia Rasekhomba suffered a knee injury and the stoppage allowed Zimbabwe to replace goal shooter Pauline Jani with Netsai Muchemwa who went to play goal attack with Paidamoyo Tinoza moving to goal shooter.

The switch did not really click and the hosts returned to restore parity at 20-20 before overtaking a surprisingly out-of-sorts Zimbabwe to go in to the main breather leading 24-21.

The penultimate stanza thrilled.

The hosts maintained their lead at 26-23 with Zimbabwe committing a glut of mistakes and fouls.

Poor passing, easy loss of position and awful shooting characterized Zimbabwe’s third stanza play.

Botswana surged to 32-28 but a top drawer Felistus Kwangwa (goal defender) interception inspired Zimbabwe to reduce the gap to 32-30.

It soon narrowed to one before going level at 33-33.

And another defensive brilliance by goal keeper Tatenda saw Zimbabwe amazingly comeback to lead 34-33 going into the decider.

But all those efforts culminated into a disappointing draw in the end.