Led superbly by acting captain and player of the match Natalie von Bertouch, Australia dominated the mid court as the Diamonds extended their lead at every change to finish the match convincing winners.
Trying different on court combinations, Diamonds coach Norma Plummer started the match with her two shortest shooters Susan Pratley and Natalie Medhurst who faced the unenviable task against the athletic and agile Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor. The English defence applied relentless pressure with the Australian shooting percentage at 75 percent for the match.
It was again a nervous start to the game from both teams and England coach Sue Hawkins was forced to make a crucial change when goal shooter Rachel Dunn injured her ankle early in the game and didn`t return after the first quarter.
Mo’onia Gerrard’s flair was a feature of the first quarter with the athletic wing defence taking a number of intercepts and combining with von Bertouch forced England to make costly turnovers and the Diamonds went into the first break with a 12-8 lead.
The Diamonds started to get on top of their opponents in the early stages of the second quarter extending their lead to seven goals.
But errors started to creep into the Australian game and the defensive combination of Mkoloma and Mentor used their height advantage to force and capitalize on the missed opportunities of the Diamonds shooters.
At half time the Diamonds led by five goals, 20-15 but with the usual sharp shooting of Natalie Medhurst down to 64%, Plummer opted for height, rotating Kate Beveridge into goal shooter in the third quarter.
The towering shooter gave the Diamonds a target and while Beveridge started nervously, Pratley continued to work hard in the circle as the Diamonds started to gain the ascendancy in the match.
Rebecca Bulley and Bianca Chatfield began to gain the upper hand in defence, reading the play and taking a number of crucial intercepts to help the team open up a six goal lead 32-26 at three quarter time.
The final term became one of defence as a series of errors crept into both teams play.
However, the Diamonds continued to work hard until the end of the match and outscored England 11 goals to seven in the final quarter to finish the game 10 goal victors.
While disappointed with the result, England coach Sue Hawkins said she was pleased of aspects of her developing team but was aware of the areas that still needed improving.
“I was pleased with our defensive end and thought they had stepped up and made Australia earn every goal,” Hawkins said.
“What we take away from this series, is we have to be much tougher and stronger. Our game is about ball speed and letting it go and they just need some confidence about what they can do.”
For Norma Plummer, in her 50th Test match as coach of Australia it was the efforts of Chatfield and Bulley that impressed her most.
“Wasn’t our defensive circle fantastic,” Plummer said.
“Bec Bulley really marked herself out on the court tonight and she did a marvelous job. I was very pleased with the performance of the back end.”
However, she still believes work needs to be done in the attacking end to capitalize on opportunities.
