Netball World Cup Wrap Day Five

There were five matches on the fifth day of the 2019 Netball World Cup as the competition moved closer to the end of the second preliminary stages.

Australia and New Zealand were in action ahead of their meeting on Thursday and both recorded comfortable wins over Malawi and Northern Ireland respectively. 

Fiji saw off Singapore, Zimbabwe beat Barbados and Samoa recorded a 10-goal win over Sri Lanka.

Jo Harten and the England Roses had a rest day.

Australia v Malawi

The Diamonds were in sparkling form again, sweeping aside Malawi 74-25 as the Queens were restricted to their lowest-ever World Cup score.

The win secured a spot in the semi-finals for the Aussies, with one game left to play for the Diamonds in the second stage of preliminaries.

Australia coach Lisa Alexander made a number of changes to her starting line-up as the Diamonds faced their fifth game in five days.

GIANT Jamie-Lee Price returned to her familiar position of wing defence, spending all four quarters on court for the first time this tournament.

Malawi entered the match with plenty of momentum, having won three matches in a row, but the going was tough early against the in-form Diamonds.

Caitlin Bassett and Gretel Tippett were unstoppable, slotting through every attempt in the opening quarter to take a 21-2 lead.

The second quarter followed a similar theme, although Bassett and Tippett’s accuracy didn’t quite match their first-quarter efforts, shooting at 80 per cent collectively as the Aussies took a 41-5 lead into the main break.

As Alexander made changes in the second half to trial different combinations, Price and goal keeper Courtney Bruce were the only two Diamonds to remained unchanged for the four quarters.

The Queens found the scoreboard more regularly, shooting nine goals to 20 in the third quarter, and almost equalled the Diamonds in the last, producing an 11-13 term as they refused to drop their heads.

Jamie-Lee Price: After an impressive display as centre in the second half against Barbados, Price played the entire 60 minutes in wing defence against Malawi. Price racked up two intercepts and two gains in a strong performance from the 23-year-old in her first world cup.

Caitlin Bassett: Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett played half the match against Malawi as goal shooter in partnership with Gretel Tippett in goal attack. Bassett was at her ruthless best shooting, 14 from 14 in the first quarter before finishing with 24 from 28. Bassett was substituted off for Caitlin Thwaites in the second half.

Up next:

Australia will have a rest day on Wednesday ahead of a huge clash with New Zealand on Thursday. You can catch the match on 9Go! from 7pm on Thursday night.

Day six games: Trinidad and Tobago v England, Sri Lanka v Fiji, Singapore v Samoa, Jamaica v Scotland, South Africa v Uganda.