England have for the first time in history reached the Netball World Cup final.
A thrilling semi-final saw England beat reigning champions New Zealand 46-40 in Cape Town and can now face Australia in Sunday’s final.
The Roses can now become the only nation other than Australia or New Zealand to lift the trophy in the modern era and sparked scenes of jubilation on their bench at the end of a thrilling semi-final.
Thirlby said: "When I got the job in August 2019, we had a Zoom call because as you know half the team are never England-based. One of the things I said was I wanted to help take us where no Roses team has gone before and that for us was a World Cup final.
"It has been four years in the making so it feels brilliant that we've gone on a journey and been patient.
"We've managed to get more court time and match minutes against the best teams in the world and we wanted to get to the start line of a World Cup with much more depth and I think we're proving that it's working well for us. I'm just incredibly proud that we've made that history."
England will be full of confidence after securing wins against both Australia and now New Zealand for the first time at a World Cup, having beaten the former 56-55 on Thursday.
Australia defeated Jamaica 57-54 in the other semi-final to progress to the final for the first time at the expense of the 11-time winners.
