Out of World Cup frying pan into fire for netball Proteas

Jamaica has held off a gallant Malawi, winning 63-62 to seal a place in the Netball World Cup semi-finals in Sydney, Denying the Malawi Queens the same opportunity.

And the tournament of domination continued in earnest last night, as the Diamonds completely ironed out the World Number 5 ranked South Africa by a staggering 35 points, practically coasting to a 66-31 victory.

The results means Wales can’t qualify for the semi-finals even if they beat reigning champions Australia on Friday.

And that was sorely needed in the wake of Australia’s upset Netball World Cup loss to New Zealand on Sunday.

Team spirit willed exhausted bodies through games during the Glasgow triumph last year, she said, and the scary thing for opposition teams may be how much more there is to come.

The Diamonds are starting to assemble a game plan for Saturday’s Netball World Cup semi-final, fully aware that Jamaica is shaping as the likely opponent.

England struggled to find an accurate feed to their shooters in the first half of the game and Australia’s Renae Hallinan at Wing Defence and Julie Corletto at Goal Defence were dominant against the England attack.

The Kiwis piled on 20 more goals in the final 15 minutes, Brown making way for Maria Tutaia in her 100th game for the Silver Ferns, Taumaunu continuing to tweak her line-up to share the playing load. “While usually the Netball World Cup is contested between the two Antipodean giants of the sport, Australia and New Zealand, this time round many are tipping the world number three team as the biggest threat to the home nation”.

Silver Ferns assistant coach Vicki Wilson says the meticulous preparation that has got them this far won’t change.

It didn’t, but Fear said if she could be of any use, she’d be happy to help.

Along with Layton, Alexander chose to leave fellow defender Rebecca Bulley on the bench for the entire match, along with goal attack Erin Bell who didn’t inspire against New Zealand.

“We’re used to the Australian style which is hard one on one”.

Key to England’s chances is captain and goal keeper Geva Mentor, says the BBC.

“We don’t want to underestimate Jamaica, but I really think the game’s going to be won for us in the midcourt, and what we can do in there to get the ball through cleanly”.