On Friday night the England netball team made history as they claimed their first victory over Australia in 29 years. Although the England team had experienced victory against Australia in the Fastnet form of the game during the World Netball Series in October, this was the first time in the regular format of the female sport. A nailbitingly-close one point margin gave England victory 41-40 in the opening Co-operative International Netball test match at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
The lively crowd saw exceptional performances from Geva Mentor (Mitre Player of the Match) and Sonia Mkoloma in defence for England, forcing an uncharacteristic number of errors and missed shots from Australia’s Pratley and Medhurst.
Down at the other end of the court Pam Cookey was in fine form, shooting England to a 9-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started at a frantic pace and saw Australia moving the ball quickly down court but Dunn and Cookey’s composed shooting keeping England in the game the game finishing at half time 18-18.
England’s team selection, going with SuperLeague pairings, seemed to be paying off with great teamwork from Mentor and Mkoloma in the defensive circle, Clarke and Bayman in mid-court and, after a tactical switch from Sue Hawkins, Tamsin Greenway at wing-attack.
Despite further turnovers and good defensive work England were stalling and just couldn’t get ahead. The third quarter was very tight but England’s confidence never dropped and they took advantage of a below par shooting performance from the Diamonds. With 15 to play England led 30-26; could this be the end of a 29 year run...
Sue Hawkins saw no reason to change her line-up in the final period, as all the players were performing well individually, and as a team. The highly rated Madison Browne came on for Australia to win her third cap and Rebecca Billing was brought on to try and counter the impressive Greenway.
Again England started the quarter well and had a chance to really take it away from the Aussies stretching the lead to six at one point in the quarter. But everyone knows you write off the Diamonds at your peril. The crowd caught a glimpse of the impressive Madison Browne who broke down the England defence with relative ease, although Jade Clarke worked tirelessly to try and nullify her impact.
In the final quarter England took control and with two minutes to go and the game looked won, with England four goals ahead at 39-35. But at 41-38 Pamela Cookey had a pass intercepted and the momentum swung back to the Diamonds. It was 41-39 with Australia moving dynamically from their centre pass to produce another goal 41-40. This set up a tense finish with England defending resolutely and they held on for the final whistle to seal victory by one point 41- 40.
England head coach Sue Hawkins was delighted with the win but was more than aware there was still work to be done. “We need to now learn from the game, there were a number of fantastic plays from all members of the team out on the court.”
“They’ll come back fighting, that’s inbred” she said of the beaten Diamonds. “They’ll be hurting, they won’t like it and they’ll come back with a tougher approach.”
But the coach had a warning for those who underestimate her England side. “These girls have got something special and I truly believe in this team and we’ll go out even stronger”.
Geva Mentor, the Mitre Player of the match: “Obviously all of us are absolutely ecstatic with the win. It was hard fought but we made quite a few errors.”
“The Co-operative Netball Superleague has been instrumental in the pairings as some of us have taken the decision to move to different teams to work on those pairings. It’s coming into a Commonwealth Games year so building those partnerships is definitely going to help and I think it showed tonight.”
Norma Plummer, head coach of the Australian Diamonds was not downcast at finally being beaten by England: “I’m not disappointed” she said. “You could think it’s the first time we’ve lost to England for awhile, but I was very aware that I had five senior players missing and that I was bringing over this team to give it a good run.”
“It’s about winning a Commonwealth Gold and a World Series gold and the only way you gonna be able to have the depth is to give it the opportunity. I think some of our youngsters did a really good job.”