Diamonds suffer brutal 60-year first amid shock NZ result at Netball World Cup

The Netball World Cup was rocked by a day of upsets on Thursday after England beat Australia and Jamaica took down New Zealand. On the final day of preliminary play in Cape Town, the Diamonds suffered their first-ever loss to England at a World Cup, while the New Zealand slumped to their biggest-ever Cup defeat.

The World No.1 Aussies were beaten 56-55 by third-ranked England - the Roses' first win in 14 World Cup games against the Diamonds stretching back to 1963. The Aussies had a golden opportunity to level the scores in the final few seconds, but a wayward pass from a throw-in saw England gain possession and hang on for the victory.

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England outscored the Diamonds in three of the four quarters, however Australia led by eight goals at one stage. Australia didn't hit the front until almost seven minutes into the second term, but took a six-goal lead into half-time and led by eight in the third term.

But England pulled off an extraordinary comeback, with Eleanor Cardwell hitting the go-ahead goal with just 47 seconds remaining. England then regained possession with 23 seconds left after a wayward pass from Diamonds goal attack Kiera Austin.

Cardwell, who recently won the Super Netball title with the Adelaide Thunderbirds, made 34 of 35 shots. Sydney Swifts superstar and player of the match Helen Housby landed all 22 of her attempts, as well as notching a team-leading 12 goal assists.

Cara Koenen was a reliable target for Australia with 32 from 34 attempts, while Steph Wood made 19 off 22 and Austin four from five. "Probably the most disappointing thing is not necessarily we lost, but just how we played towards the back end of that game," Diamonds captain and wing attack Liz Watson said.

Watson said there were “lots of positives, especially in that second quarter”, adding: “It’s just staying positive. You never want to lose. People say they’re ‘good losses’ but of course, we want to win and put out a good performance."

England coach Jess Thirlby made an extraordinary 22 changes during the game. The introduction of mid-court veterans Jade Clarke and Chelsea Pittman after half-time added more bite to the Roses, who trailed 42-34 in the third quarter.

“At the end of the day it’s high-performance sport…there’s not a perfect game and certainly to win a World Cup, you’ve got to be able to beat anyone anywhere,” said Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich. “It doesn’t matter about the opposition, it’s about how we go and learn and grow from this and make sure we can adapt and shift in the right direction.”

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A couple of hours later, the fourth-ranked Jamaicans notched their first-ever World Cup win in 12 matches against defending champions New Zealand. The Sunshine Girls ran out 59-48 winners, inflicting the Silver Ferns' biggest ever loss in the tournament.

Superstar shooter Jhaniele Fowler made all 49 of her attempts in another dominant display, sparking wild scenes of celebration amongst the Jamaicans. The upset results saw England and Jamaica top their respective pools, with Australia now set to face Jamaica and England against New Zealand in the semi-finals.

Jamaica scored a shock upset over Australia in pool play at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but the Diamonds got revenge when they met again in the gold medal match. Fans were left stunned by the day of drama in Cape Town.

with AAP

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