England (41) defeated Australian Diamonds (40)

In a thrilling match at the Echo Stadium in Liverpool, the Australian Netball Diamonds have been defeated by England 41-40. It is the first time England has defeated Australia in a Test match since 1981.

Despite a hard fought comeback from the Diamonds, with the home crowd behind them, England was able to hold on in the final seconds for the historic win.

It was a nervous opening quarter with scoring hard to come by as the defenders set the tone of the game dominating for both teams. In a pleasing sign for Diamonds coach Norma Plummer, Mo’onia Gerrard showed good form after missing the second Test against Scotland through injury. With pressure high, mistakes crept in to both the Diamonds and England’s play and no advantage evident until the end of the first quarter.

Both coaches stuck with their starting seven in the second quarter as the game of defence continued. It took the Diamonds the majority of the quarter to pull back the scores to level but they did so with five minutes remaining of the quarter and it stayed that way until the major break with the scores level at 18 all.

The game see-sawed in the third quarter as the Diamonds struggled to find an edge. Turnovers became critical and all shots on goal imperative. Kate Beveridge’s addition at half time was providing another option with Susan Pratley but the Diamonds headed in to the final break trailing by four goals. It set the game up for a thrilling final 15 minutes.

Plummer kept her faith in her younger players and made three changes in the final quarter bringing on Madison Browne, Laura Geitz and Rebecca Bulley. The fresh legs had a instant impact as the Diamonds began to surge. Browne lead from the front in wing attack with some impressive passes and moves, while Geitz shut down Louisa Brownfield in goal shooter and also created attack out of defence. The added pressure was mounting on England and errors started creeping into their game.

With the momentum building for the Diamonds and the physicality of the game growing, a stepping call against Susan Pratley in the goal circle at a crucial time was a turning point in the final minutes as time ran out and the Australians fell just one goal short.

The result sets up an exciting clash when the Diamonds will meet England again on Sunday in Nottingham.

Norma Plummer quotes

I am not too disappointed, that is England’s best line up.

We put up more shots – 53 to 49 - we just need to capitalize more on that.

There are still another two games in the series, we now just have to get our combinations working together better. This group has not done a lot of work together so we just keep building.

Madison (Browne) came on with a blast and really let the ball go. I thought Bevo (Kate Beveridge) also did a good job.

Natalie von Bertouch had a good one as did Renae Hallinan.

Laura Geitz took three to four minutes to get going but then really got in there with interceptions and her attack on the ball.

It was a very physical game but that is International netball.

They didn’t give in but that is something that is built into this side, they never give up.

Quarter by quarter scores

Q1 – 6-9
Q2 – 18-18

Q3 – 26 - 30

Q4 – 40-41

Shooting statistics

Australia

Susan Pratley – 21/29 (72%)
Natalie Medhurst – 6/8 (75%)