Crunch time beckons at the Netball World Cup with top four teams – Australia, England, Jamaica and New Zealand – poised to play each other in their final group games to decide how they will match up in the semi-finals on Saturday. Though not must-win games with places already promised to the teams based on their previous pool results, a win will give the victor an easier route to the final as well as some much-coveted confidence.
The first of the back-to-back blockbuster games will pit the 11-time champions Australia against third-ranked England. Hunting for the only piece of netball silverware they do not hold, the Diamonds start the game as favourites.
Despite being without their talisman Gretel Bueta, who pulled them over the line at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Australia still have an abundance of riches at their shooting end. The two-pronged attacking lineup of Cara Koenen and Steph Wood, teammates in Australia’s Super Netball league, conducted by captain Liz Watson will be a headache for England’s defenders, while the Roses attack will have to tiptoe around defender Courtney Bruce with 19 intercepts already in the tournament.
For England to stay in contention they will need a complete 60-minute, full-squad performance, something their coach, Jess Thirlby, has highlighted. “It is relentless playing Australia,” she said. “It’s going to be about consistency, repeated efforts, repeated workloads. I think we’ve called upon our 12 [players] in every game so far, and that is something that we’ve deliberately planned for.”
It will be brutal but the Roses will not be without their thorns. Goalers Helen Housby and Eleanor Cardwell, are coming off the season of their careers having made it to the Super Netball finals in early July. Shooting at 93.5% (100/107) and 91.8% (146/159) respectively and capable of slotting them in from anywhere, breaking up the pair will be at the forefront of the Australia’s minds.
After the first breathless contest, another will follow with the defending champions, New Zealand, taking on Jamaica. Expected to be a much tighter affair, there will be plenty of intrigue surrounding the game, particularly around the Silver Ferns’ approach. In Birmingham, the Jamaicans squashed New Zealand in the semi-finals, 67-51, earning them passage to their first major final. The Sunshine Girls then visited Aotearoa in the autumn for a catchup Test series, but due to a string of reasons, Jamaica could not field a full-strength team.
The Ferns won but with little intel gained. Add into the count the departure of 21-year-old Grace Nweke, the holding shooter who had been tactically primed to be a release point for the Ferns’ attacking end against strong defence units like Jamaica’s. But expect New Zealand to adapt and grow as the game unfolds.
For the Sunshine Girls, the main sticking point will be patience. With one of the most reactive and clinical defensive lines in the world, fronted by goal keeper extraordinaire Shamera Sterling, turning over the ball is almost never a problem for Jamaica; supplying that ball to their world-class shooter Jhaniele Fowler, however, could be.
Known for their zonal play, the Ferns will have plenty of traps set for the Jamaicans as they try to thread the ball through to Fowler. Plus the return of New Zealand’s own defending stalwarts Jane Watson and Karin Burger, who sat out Birmingham, will make it that bit harder for Jamaica.
