Caoe Town, South Africa (News of The South) – England 61-45 in the final of the tournament at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Sunday. That saw the Diamonds lifting the trophy, which was presented by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, for a record-extending 12th time.
Earlier in the evening in the bronze medal playoff, Jamaica defeated New Zealand for the second time in a matter of days to secure their first podium place since 2007.
At the end of 10 days of enthralling action in Cape Town, England goal attack Helen Housby was named Player of the Tournament and best attacking player. New Zealand’s Kate Heffernan was named the best midcourt player while Australia’s Courtney Bruce was selected as the best defender.
Before handing over the trophy to the Australian team, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed those gathered at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, saying that the past 10 days of action had converted him into becoming a netball fan. He also hailed the uniquely African vibe at the tournament and pledged to assist in growing the sport in South Africa by building a dedicated netball arena.
ENGLAND 45 – 61 AUSTRALIA
<
Having lost out to New Zealand by just one goal in the last Netball World Cup final in Liverpool four years ago, Australia ensured there would be no repeat scenario when they defeated England 61-45 in the final in Cape Town on Sunday.
England were playing in their first ever Netball World Cup final after beating defending champions New Zealand in the semifinal while the Australians were contesting their ninth consecutive gold-medal match, having never finished lower than second in the tournament’s 60-year history.
Australia came out firing to take a two-goal lead after the opening exchanges, Steph Wood proving to be the creative force for the Diamonds on attack early on. England coach Jess Thirlby responded immediately, bringing on Fran Williams for Layla Guscoth at goal defence. The move proved an effective one with the Roses managing to close the gap and equalise at 12-12, but throwing away their opportunity to edge in front while the Australians were doing well to hold onto their possession. There was nothing to separate the teams by the first break, however, as they finished the quarter all square on 13-13.
It was the Diamonds who looked more in control after the break, showing patience to work their way around the England defence. While the Roses continued to work hard on turning ball over, they weren’t always capitalising on those opportunities that had been created, thanks to some solid defence from Jo Weston at goal defence and Courtney Bruce at goalkeeper.
That saw the Diamonds edging ahead and taking a four-goal lead into halftime.
When the sides met on Thursday in their final group game in Cape Town, which England won by one goal, the Australians enjoyed a six-goal lead at halftime and would have been wary of letting that slip again.
True to form, the Diamonds had clearly learned from their mistakes, putting their foot down in the third quarter and looking like they were one step ahead of the Roses throughout. Their connections looked smooth and their confidence was rising, making them even more dangerous on attack. Thirlby continued to make multiple changes to the England lineup, and while there were moments of individual brilliance from the Roses, that did little to slow the flow of Australian goals. Kiera Austin scored as the whistle sounded to ensure her side went into the final break 10 goals up.
That was always going to be an unlikely gap to bridge in just 15 minutes for England who, to their credit, continued to fight until the final whistle. But with the Australians within grasp of the title they last won in 2015, the world’s top-ranked side simply continued to do what they do best, steadily building on their advantage to ensure they lifted the trophy for a record 12th time.
Speaking after the match, a beaming Australian goal defence Jo Weston said: “It is beyond words, thrilled is probably an understatement, so ecstatic that we managed to pull it off on the day and now we are the world champs. They’ve just got such a potent shooting end and they were really accurate last time, we tried to adjust and stay in play a little bit more and build continual pressure and hope that we could turn over the ball and it worked in the end.”
England defender Fran Williams said: “I think we are gutted about our performance because we know we are so much better and I think we have shown that this tournament. But fair play to the Diamonds, they threw everything at us and were definitely the deserved winners on the day. We still ticked off some huge history markers and milestones this tournament and we definitely are proud of that.”
Comments
About Author
