A masterclass, a mess and a measured performance: that describes the Australian Diamonds’ first three matches – all wins – at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool.
After a scintillating 64-goal win over Northern Ireland and an at-times sloppy victory over Cup debutant Zimbabwe, Lisa Alexander’s side tonight easily accounted for Sri Lanka, 99-24 with the bookends the leading lights. Shooter Caitlin Thwaites starred with 67 from 68 and keeper Sarah Klau showed she wants the GK bib from Courtney Bruce with one intercept, seven deflections and two rebounds.
The 75-goal win means the reigning world champions will top their group and face old foe New Zealand and African powerhouse Malawi in the next stage.
The Diamonds simply had to respond to what captain Caitlin Bassett described as a “scratchy” performance against Zimbabwe – which included a staggering 28 general play turnovers – when they took on Sri Lanka, who boast the tallest netball player in the world, 206cm Tharjini Sivalingam. And respond they did, piling on a tournament-high 99 goals to eclipse the 90 scored by both England and South Africa.
The Diamonds were switched-on from the get-go and despite a few messy patches and lazy feeds across the match, dominated the Sri Lankans from goal line to goal line.
Alexander started with Thwaites at goal shooter after the Melbourne Vixens’ spearhead missed just one goal in the half she played against Northern Ireland. Steph Wood, who didn’t play in the last match but scored 12 from 13 against Northern Ireland, partnered her in the circle
The Diamonds’ most prolific feeder, Liz Watson, got the nod at centre with Kelsey Browne at wing attack, who again wore tape on her right knee. The coach went with yet another defensive line-up, with Jamie-Lee Price at wing defence and April Brandley at goal defence, in front of Klau, in just her second game in green and gold.
The Diamonds began as they meant to continue, with patience and a focus on defence. The first two times the ball went into Sivalingam, Klau got a tip and won the ball. That’s despite Klau giving way 16cm to the 40-year-old, who has spent time playing in lower leagues in Australia.
Neither Australian shooter missed in the first and the quarter ended 20-7 and such was the full-court defensive pressure, including a strong box defence in the latter half of the quarter, it took the Sri Lankans more than five minutes to score in the second. The Diamonds went on their merry way that quarter, putting away another 27 goals to end the half 46-15 up.
Klau put her name up in lights with a great half, picking up one intercept, five deflections and a rebound. Thwaites finished it with 34 from 35, while Wood sunk 13 from 14.
After just one change at half-time – Hadley for Price at wing defence – the blitz continued and it saw another 28 added to the Australia total, with both shooters returning perfect returns. At three-quarter time the game was all but over, Australia up 75-22.
The Diamonds didn’t relent in the last, adding another 24 and restricting Sri Lanka to just two to claim the match. It’s a performance Alexander will be satisfied with as the serious stuff awaits.
The next stage of the competition begins Monday and Australia will take on Barbados at 8pm AEST. The Caribbean nation defeated Singapore by 35 on day one, but lost to Malawi and New Zealand by significant margins.
