Sara Bayman is an England international currently competing in the Commonwealth Games. She has previously captained the under 21’s England team, and is the newest signing of the Netball Superleague’s Northern Thunder.
Writing exclusively for intosport.com, Sara gives will be blogging throughout the Games in Delhi.
Well unfortunately we lost our group-deciding game to New Zealand and naturally we were all really disappointed. We actually played really well for three quarters of the game and went into the final period one goal ahead. However, you can't afford to have any lapses against the top teams in the world and we paid dearly for not closing out the game. I think the kiwis will feel they got out of jail with this one because the game was there for the taking and we were disappointed not to finish it off. A 6 goal loss is not the end of the world though and we now just have to look towards progressing via a different path.
Obviously the team were gutted after the game but we did a lot of good stuff out there. We had a game plan and it was working, the most annoying thing is that we had control of the game and we let it slip. Rather than building momentum throughout, there were definite ebbs and flows and in the end we were on the wrong end of a strong last quarter from the silver ferns. There was a definite feeling of frustration that we could and should have won it.
NZ were pretty much what we expected. They have a very distinct style and we'd done our homework going into the match. What we had to grudgingly acknowledge was that their concentration remained when it mattered. When we put them under pressure they were able to respond and that's an impressive quality in any team.
The mood in camp is really good however. We were determined not to have a hangover from the NZ game and we put out a strong performance for our win against the cooks the next day. For our rest day yesterday, we got up early and went to watch the hockey boys and girls. The men beat NZ 5-3 which obviously made us happy and the women beat Malaysia 3-0. You have to hand it to the hockey players, they have it tough. We were only watching and we were melting in the heat, their bodies took some serious punishment out there so massive respect for that. Today we played Papua New Guinea and put out another good performance, looking at reducing our error rate for when we come up against the Aussies in the semi on Tuesday. We are under no illusions about how tough that match is going to be but we are looking forward to it. If it was up to me I'd play them as soon as possible, I can't wait to get out there and have a crack at them (not literally!).
Generally, the atmosphere has been great around the village. Everyone is really friendly and there is definitely a buzz about the whole of team England. We're hoping to catch some of the rugby 7's tomorrow as they play right opposite our training venue, so we'll be cheering the boys on then.
Other than that, we had an afternoon trip to a few places of interest around Delhi this afternoon. Luckily we were able to squeeze a quick nap in after our game before we headed out to be culture vultures. It was our only chance to really get out of the village and sporting environment so it was nice to dress in 'civvies' for once and blend in...well sort of!
I'm very sorry to report that our talent show got cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. we forgot about it) but that hasn't stopped Lou, Karen, Jade, Jo and Pam forming a Misteeq tribute band. Too many members I know, but what they lack in talent (and that's a lot) they make up for with enthusiasm.
One final note. Sonia got her 100th cap today, so massive congratulations to her, and of course GO TEAM ENGLAND!!!