Commonwealth Games: Jamaica beat Australia to top Group A for the first time | News about netball
Sunshine Girls beat Australia 57-55 to take first place in Group A; England and New Zealand face off at 9pm to decide the top spots of Group B; The winner of the match between the host and Silver Ferns will face Australia in the semi-finals, the loser will face Jamaica in the other semi-final.
Last updated: 03:00 pm 04/08/22
Jamaican players celebrate their historic victory
Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls beat the Australian Diamonds for the first time at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday morning to take first place in Group A.
Sunshine Girls’ 57-55 result saw them bounce back after conceding six goals heading into the final inning.
Experienced Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler displayed her signature precision to score 47 of her team’s 57 goals and their historic 17-9 win.
The result meant Jamaica ended their time in Group A as the only team unbeaten and top seed Australia had to take second place.
Australia vs Jamaica – Quarterly Score
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | FT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 14 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 55 |
| Jamaica | 13 | 16 | 11 | 17 | 57 |
“Beating Australia in the Commonwealth Games is a bit bizarre,” Fowler said afterward.
“We’ve never done it before, but our team is incredible and we went out there and proved everyone wrong. It feels great.
“Our thinking from the beginning was that we are as good as them, if not better. We have a lot of discipline and focus in our squad.”
The top spots in Group B will be decided at 9pm, when the defending champions England against the reigning world champions New Zealand. The winning team will face Australia in the semi-finals and the losing team will face the Sunshine Girls.
Both semi-finals take place on Saturday, with bronze and gold medal matches being held on Sunday at Birmingham’s NEC Arena.
England faced New Zealand without losing a match
The England team showed outstanding versatility and built as well as the netball opponent took place in Birmingham.
Jess Thirlby has managed the team’s game time well to ensure that they are approaching the final stages of the competition as fresh as possible.
England and New Zealand know each other well, having met 54 times before in their history, and this will be their seventh competition at the Commonwealth Games.
England have dominated the last three meetings, most recently in the Netball Quad Series in January and before that twice on New Zealand soil last September.
