Team England continued their Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign with a 66-41 win against Malawi at the NEC Arena.
All 12 England players were once again able to get out on court and, overall, they scored 87% of shots on target.
Team England starting seven: Geva Mentor (GK), Layla Guscoth (GD), Stacey Francis-Bayman (WD), Jade Clarke (C), Natalie Metcalf (WA), Eleanor Cardwell (GA), Jo Harten (GS).
Substitutes: Eboni Usoro-Brown, Imogen Allison, Helen Housby, Laura Malcolm, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis
Malawi starting seven: Towera Vinkhumbo (GK), Carlo Mtukule (GD), Martha Dambo (WD), Takondwa Lwazi (C), Bridget Kumwenda (WA), Mwai Kumwenda (GA), Joyce Mvula (GS).
Substitutes: Jane Chimaliro, Sindi Simtowe, Thandie Galeta, Shilla Dimba, Laureen Ngwira
Quarter one:
Malawi started the game strongly and took the first goal in the opening minutes of the game - their first match of the tournament and their third meeting against England in a Commonwealth Games competition.
This goal however was quickly followed by a stunning shot by Eleanor Cardwell, who exuded an air of confidence in the shooting circle on the back of her pin-point accuracy in yesterday’s game.
As England fought hard in the defence circle, their efforts were rewarded with a fantastic intercept from Geva Mentor and a later unmatched intercept from Stacey Francis-Bayman.
At the end of the first 15 minutes, Team England led 19-9.
Quarter two:
Both teams came out the blocks fighting at the start of the second quarter with goals being scored at both ends of the court in quick succession.
England demonstrated their expert passing skills, starting with a fantastic intercept from Mentor in the defensive circle before moving effortlessly through the midcourt to find Jo Harten in the shooting circle, who rewarded the team's efforts with a long-range goal.
However, Malawi were not phased by England’s efforts and pulled back the deficit with a series of clinical goals from Joyce Mvula. Malawi started to look more settled in the second quarter and began to pose a threat with ball in hand.
With some hard work from England in the defensive circle, making great use of Jade Clarke and Natalie Metcalf in the mid-court to support, England sustained their lead at half time at 35-20.
Quarter three:
On the back of the break, Head Coach Jess Thirlby made some changes to her Team England line-up, notably bringing Helen Housby on to replace Cardwell at GA, Clarke going back to WD and Francis-Bayman moving to GD.
England started the second half as they meant to go on with a fantastic intercept from Laura Malcolm and expert vision from Metcalf to find Harten under the post, extending England’s lead.
Housby certainly made her mark off the bench, scoring three from three at the start of the third quarter.
However, as the quarter progressed, Malawi showed their dominance and applied constant pressure to England across the court. Their efforts began to pay off as they started to close the deficit, but by the end of the third quarter, Team England still held their lead at 48-33.
Quarter four:
Thirlby made some final changes to her England team heading into the final quarter, seeing Cardwell come on at GS, Imogen Allison at WD, Layla Guscoth back at GD and Eboni Usoro-Brown on at GK.
England were forced to work hard to hold their lead against Malawi and Guscoth, Malcolm and Housby showed great patience to keep possession and feed the ball into Cardwell to score.
A last-minute England change saw Sophie Drakeford-Lewis come on at WA and the team continued to fight for every ball with Malcolm executing a stunning intercept with under three minutes to go.
Malawi continued to fight until the end but Team England secured the win at 66-41.
Team England continue their Commonwealth Games campaign in their next match against Northern Ireland on Monday 1 August 2022 starting at 6pm.
Here’s a guide to the competition, including how you can follow all the action.
If you’re new to our sport and want to have a go yourself, we have programmes for everyone aged 5 to 95 from Bee Netball for children, to Back to Netball for those returning, to Walking Netball, a slower version of the game we love. Through the netball finder on our homepage, simply select play and enter your postcode and you’ll find a variety of sessions in your area.
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