Crunch time beckons at the Netball World Cup with top four teams – Australia, England, Jamaica and New Zealand – playing each other in their final group games to decide who will make it through to the semi-finals on Saturday. Australia and England’s game will not be a must-win with places in the semi-finals already promised to them based on their previous pool results. For New Zealand, the match will have significant consequences. Having drawn against hosts South Africa on Wednesday, victory will be a must if they want to keep their tournament fate in their own hands.
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 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 who has 19 intercepts 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 and that is something 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 Australians’ minds.
After the first contest, the defending champions, New Zealand face Jamaica but the surprise draw against host South Africa in their penultimate pool game has raised the stakes for the Silver Ferns. Should New Zealand lose, the hosts will have the chance to seize the last semi-final spot in their game against Uganda if they can win and surpass New Zealand’s goal percentage.
The pressure will be on for the Ferns and it won’t be easy. 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 number 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.
