The Australian Diamonds have made a spectacular return to form at the 2011 World Netball Championships with a comprehensive 97-20 victory over Sri Lanka at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night.
Unhappy with their performance against Northern Ireland on Tuesday night, the Sri Lankans were on the receiving end of a relentless, fast and tough Diamonds performance.
“We’re feeling a lot better after that game than what we did yesterday,” Erin Bell said afterwards.
“That was a good game to finish the group stage on as we head into the quarter finals.”
The Diamonds starting seven of Catherine Cox, Natalie Medhurst, Chelsea Pitman, Natalie von Bertouch, Mo’onia Gerrard, Sharni Layton and Susan Fuhrmann made a strong case to be the preferred starting line up for the business end of the tournament.
Playing in their green clash dress with gold trim, a flawless first quarter from the Diamonds put the result beyond doubt at the with Australia leading 32-5 at the first break courtesy of a polished performance across court.
While the Sri Lankans were the first to score, it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the quarter as the Diamonds moved the ball with great speed and accuracy into the shooter who scored 18 goals unanswered while the defenders were solid as the team failed to turn the ball over once.
Full court defensive pressure made life difficult for Sri Lanka who struggled to penetrate the attacking third however they managed to stem the Diamonds flow of scoring in the second quarter with Australia adding only a further 19 goals to lead 51-9 at halftime.
Like the previous two matches at the World Championships, coach Norma Plummer again turning to the bench at halftime, giving all 12 players court time in preparation for Friday’s quarter final against Malawi.
A seamless change in personnel on court did little to slow the Diamonds as Gerrard and Julie Corletto continued to deny Sri Lanka through the mid-court, often resorting to passing backwards from centre passes with few options forward.
With Sri Lanka boasting the tallest shooter in international netball, Fuhrmann initially had the job on the 206cm Tharjini Sivalingam for the first half before Laura Geitz was given the task for the second half despite giving away 18cm in height.
At the other end of the court, the combination of Caitlin Bassett and Erin Bell continued to blossom in the shooting circle as the pair put on 46 goals in the second half as the Diamonds crept towards the ton.
Unfortunately for Bassett, her perfect run at the world championships was brought to a halt late in the third quarter, missing her first shot of the tournament after converting 69 consecutive goals in 70 minutes of play.
Sri Lankans played keepings off late in the fourth quarter, prevented the Australians from recording a century on the scoreboard, though Bell denied after the match that the Diamonds aiming for the milestone late in the match.
“The last five minutes of our games have been a little scrappy so we were focusing on trying to finish the match strong and if we happened to get to 100 than that would have been nice,” Bell said.
“I don’t think the scoreboards actually go to 100 so we did the scorers a favour.”
With the Diamonds set for a rest day on Thursday, Bell mentioned that Plummer has highlighted the importance of remaining focused on the job at hand.
“(Plummer) said we need to make sure that we maintain our focus and now with the day off tomorrow to keep our heads screwed on so we can go into the quarter finals pumping,” Bell said of Norma’s chat after the final whistle.
“We haven’t had a chat yet about (the quarter finals) because we’ve just been focusing on the rounds but I’m sure (Norma) Plummer will have some footage for us to watch so we can get a game plan going against Malawi.”
With a complete performance from all 12 players, Bell suggests that Plummer will have some difficult decisions regarding the starting seven for the finals.
“I can’t split the different in the combinations because every combination looks just as comfortable as the next on court,” Bell said.
“It’s going to be a tough job for the coach to decide who she’s going to put out there on court but it might just come down to who matches up the best depending on the opposition.”
Mo’onia Gerrard was named player of the match for her six intercepts, seven deflections and outstanding contribution to the Diamonds 77-goal victory over Sri Lanka.
The Australian Diamonds will now take on Malawi in the Quarter-Finals on Friday at 6.45pm (AEST).
Australian shooting stats:
Catherine Cox 27/33 (82%)
Natalie Medhurst 24/24 (100%)
Caitlin Bassett 30/31 (97%)
Erin Bell 16/21 (76%)
