The Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 took place over 20 thrilling sessions of netball from 12-21 July 2019. The 2019 Netball World Cup was the 15th staging of the premier competition in international netball, contested every four years. The tournament was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Once again, this asrticle is constructed from the perspective of an Australian supporter!
All matches at the event were held at the M&S Bank Arena (known for non-commercial purposes as Liverpool Arena), which has a seating capacity of 11,000. The venue was the centre-piece of the ACC Liverpool sporting and events precinct, which allowed the event’s other amenities, such as warm-up and administration facilities, to take place within the one location. Sixteen teams contested the 2019 tournament Five teams automatically qualified by virtue of their high ranking position in the INF World Rankings, and England qualified as the host nation. The remaining ten teams qualified via regional qualification tournaments, with two teams selected from each of the five international netball regions; Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The five teams (six if England is included) to be granted automatic qualification, in order of seeding were
Automatic: Australia, England [host nation], New Zealand, Jamaica, South Africa, and Malawi
Qualified: Scotland; Northern Ireland; Fiji; Samoa; Uganda; Zimbabwe; Trinidad & Tobago; Barbados; Sri Lanka; and Singapore
The Australian squad for the competition was:
Caitlin Bassett(captain), April Brandley, Kelsey Browne, Courtney Bruce, Paige Hadley, Sarah Klau, Jamie-Lee Price, Caitlin Thwaites, Gretel Tippett, Liz Watson (vice-captain), Jo Weston, Steph Wood.
A new format was introduced for the tournament. Teams competed in three stages; the Preliminaries Stage One (12-14 July), Preliminaries Stage Two (15-18 July) and the Play-offs and Placings matches (19-21 July).
Preliminaries Stage One
There were four groups (A, B, C and D) of four teams in the first stage, with the top eight teams pre-assigned to their groups and one team from the 9th-12th seeds and one from the 13th-16th seeds drawn randomly into each group. However no more than two teams from the one region could be drawn into the same group. The top three teams from each group progressed to the second preliminaries stage.
Preliminaries Stage Two
The top three teams from Groups A and B formed group F, and the top three teams from groups C and D formed group G. The bottom four finishers from groups A-D competed against one another in group E. Where teams in groups F and G had already played each other in the Preliminaries Stage One (i.e. A1 has already played A2 and A3), those results carried through to the Preliminaries Stage Two.
Play-offs and Placings
The teams finishing first and second in groups F and G went through to the semi-finals, with the top placed team in each group facing the second placed team in the other group. The winners of each semi-final competed for gold in the final, with the losers played for bronze.
The teams finishing third and fourth in groups F and G will competed for final positions fifth to eighth – third in one group played fourth in the other – with the winners playing off for fifth place and the losers for seventh. The teams that finished fifth in groups F and G played off for ninth and 10th places. The teams that finished last in groups F and G played off for 11th and 12th places. The teams that finish first and second in group E played-off for 13th and 14th place and the teams that finished third and fourth in group E played-off for the 15th and 16th places. This writer was still confused about all that when the final games were being played!!!
Australia’s Netball World Cup campaign kicked into gear on the Friday night with the team still haunted by their Commonwealth Games nightmare. Australia’s quest for Commonwealth Games redemption at the 2019 Netball World Cup began this night. Coach Lisa Alexander’s team were hoping to win the prestigious tournament for a fourth-consecutive time — and this year had the added motivation of revenging their loss to England at last year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Australia Ranking: 1 Nickname: The Diamonds……….World Cup wins: 11 (1963, 1971, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2007,2011, 2015)………….World Cup final appearances: 14…………The dominant team in the world game were the team to beat in Liverpool as they looked for an astonishing 12th world title in 55 years. Although the squad contained nine World Cup rookies, they boasted some of the sport’s outstanding players in mid-courter Liz Watson and goal shooters Caitlin Bassett and Gretel Tippet.
Preliminaries Stage One results
Group A: Australia, Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe & Sri Lanka
12 July: Australia defeated Northern Ireland [7.30pm AEST 9 Gem]….88-24
Zimbabwe defeated Sri Lanka……79-49
13 July: Australia defeated Zimbabwe [5.45pm AEST 9 Gem]…73-37
Northern Ireland defeated Sri Lanka… 67-50
14 July: Australia defeated Sri Lanka [11.45pm AEST, Chan 9]….99-24
Zimbabwe defeated Northern Ireland…51-49
Group B: New Zealand, Malawi, Barbados,& Singapore
12 July: New Zealand defeated Malawi…65-45
Singapore defeated Barbados…69-34
13 July: New Zealand defeated Barbados…78-25
Malawi defeated Singapore…87-38
14 July: New Zealand defeated Singapore…….90-21
Malawi defeated Barbados….66-41
Group C: Jamaica, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, & Fiji
12 July: Jamaica defeated Fiji…85-29
South Africa defeated Trinidad & Tobago…76-45
13 July: Jamaica defeated Trinidad & Tobago…68-43
South Africa defeated Fiji… 90-35
14 July: South Africa defeated Jamaica…55-52
Trinidad & Tobago defeated Fiji…..67-56
Group D; England, Uganda, Scotland & Samoa
12 July: England defeated Uganda…64-32
Scotland defeated Samoa…53-35
13 July England defeated Scotland…70-33
Uganda defeated Samoa…69-48
14 July: England defeated Samoa…94-24
Uganda defeated Scotland..,.52-43
Preliminaries StageTwo results
After Stage One, the following groups have resulted for Stage Two Preliminary matches. If teams have already played each other, the results of the earlier match are carried forward, eg, Australia vs Northern Ireland & Zimbabwe in Group F.
Group E: Sri Lanka, Singapore, Fiji, Samoa,
Group F: Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Malawi, Australia, Barbados,
Group G: Jamaica, England, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, South Africa, Scotland
15th July – 16th July:
Group F: New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe…79-36
Malawi defeated Northern Ireland…47-43
Australia defeated Barbados [8pm]…91-22
Group E: Sri Lanka defeated Singapore…88-50
Group G: England defeated Jamaica…56-48
Group E: Samoa defeated Fiji…56-54
Group G: Uganda defeated Trinidad & Tobago…57-54
Group G: South Africa defeated Scotland…66-38
16th July: -17th July
Group E: Fiji defeated Singapore…71-56
Group E: Samoa defeated Sri Lanka …65-55
Group F: New Zealand defeated Northern Ireland …77-28
Group F: Australia defeated Malawi [2am]…74-25
Group F: Zimbabwe defeated Barbados…66-41
17th July – 18th July
Group E: Fiji defeated Sri Lanka… 59-44
Group E: Samoa defeated Singapore…63-49
Group G: England defeated Trinidad & Tobago…72-46
Group G: Jamaica defeated Scotland…67-36
Group G: South Africa defeated Uganda…67-40
18th July – 19th July
Group F: Northern Ireland defeated Barbados…46-43
Group F: Australia defeated New Zealand [7.30pm]…50-49
Group F: Malawi defeated Zimbabwe…59-43
Group G: Trinidad & Tobago drew with Scotland…43-43
Group G: Jamaica defeated Uganda…61-48
Group G: England defeated South Africa…58-47
Australia survived its sternest test at the Netball World Cup, holding out a hard-charging New Zealand to win a thriller 50-49 in Liverpool. Even though little was at stake, the trans-Tasman rivals fought out easily the best game of a tournament that has been dominated by one-sided fixtures through the first week. Both teams were guaranteed a place in Saturday’s semi-finals yet they played with intensity throughout, particularly in the final quarter when New Zealand gobbled into a lead that was as big as nine goals midway through the third quarter. With the scores locked 49-49 in the final minute, captain Caitlin Bassett sunk a goal to hand Australia the advantage. New Zealand’s Maria Folau had a chance to level with a shot five seconds from the end but missed, handing the Diamonds a 12th win from their past 13 meetings. “We all know how accurate Maria is from range,” Diamonds defender Courtney Bruce said. “I was just trying to my hardest to annoy her and get over her shot and really get in her head.” The result means Australia’s semi-final will be against South Africa after it lost its final group game to England 58-47.
19th July – 21st July
For 5th to 8th position
Jamaica defeated Zimbabwe …77-47
Malawi defeated Uganda ..55-44
Uganda defeated Zimbabwe…58-47
Jamaica defeated Malawi…68-50
For 9th to 12th position
Scotland defeated Barbados… 53-42
Northern Ireland vs Trinidad & Tobago
For 13th – 16th Position
Samoa defeated Fiji…53-42
Sri Lanka defeated Singapore…78-57
Semi Final 1:
New Zealand defeated England…47-45
New Zealand have booked a place in the Netball World Cup final with Australia after edging hosts England 47-45 in a dramatic last four clash 47-45 in Liverpool. Tracey Neville’s team clawed back from a nightmare start to lead 24-21 at halftime on Saturday but a disastrous third quarter gave the Silver Ferns a three-point lead going into the last. The deficit proved too tough to breach for an England team who must now somehow recover for Sunday’s third-place playoff against South Africa. The warning signs were there early on as Maria Folau gave New Zealand a 5-0 lead inside the first four minutes.
Semi Final 2
Australia defeated South Africa…55-53
Alexander made five changes to the side that edged out the Silver Ferns on Friday with skipper Caitlin Bassett and Steph Wood dropped to the bench as Caitlin Thwaites and Gretel Tippett filled the goal shooter and goal attack roles. South Africa started strongly in a keenly-contested opening quarter, as both sides turned the ball over regularly in the opening exchanges. The Proteas were made to pay for missed chances from under the hoop by Lenize Potgieter as the Diamonds scored two quickfire goals to open up a 14-10 lead at the start of the second stanza. The Diamonds slowly started to exert some dominance with Tippett causing South Africa all sorts of problems in the attacking third of the court as they stretched their advantage to 31-23 at halftime. However, Plummer’s message to her players during the interval had the desired effect as the Proteas won the third quarter to close the gap to 43-39 going into the final 15 minutes.
For 3rd and 4th position [Bronze Medal]
England defeated South Africa…58-42
England won bronze at the Netball World Cup by beating South Africa 58-42 in their play-off match in Liverpool. Tracey Neville’s side were aiming for gold on home soil but suffered an agonising two-goal defeat by New Zealand in Saturday’s semi-final But the Roses, ranked third in the world, did finish with a medal – comfortably seeing off the Proteas after a cagey opening quarter. England won an unexpected gold at the Commonwealth Games 15 months ago and although they could not match the elation of that moment, the home crowd were still delighted to see the Roses on the podium on the final day. It also gave head coach Neville a positive send-off in her 70th and, as it stands, final match in charge before she steps down to concentrate on starting a family. “When Tracey first came into his job it was a whirlwind, but to see her grow as a world-class international coach has been a pleasure,” said England captain Serena Guthrie. “Today was about sending her off as best we could and we did that. “It’s hard to keep it together when we have got everybody crying at the moment. This has been the best experience. “We almost feel like we have won a gold medal because of how we have changed the game. These 12 athletes have been up against it from the beginning and I’m so proud of everyone. I’m lost for words.”
For World Cup Final [Gold Medal]
New Zealand defeated Australia… 52-51
Australia are suffering heartbreak in Liverpool after losing the Netball World Cup final to New Zealand by a goal. For the first time since 2003, the Silver Ferns beat the Diamonds in the gold-medal match 52-51, with classy defence and better control. Having lost their last meeting to Australia in the final game of the preliminary rounds, New Zealand overthrew the hosts and favourites England in the semi-final. This was an impressive feat itself, considering they did not even place at the last Commonwealth Games. The opening quarter was the sort of tussle we are used to seeing from the trans-Tasman rivals and heading into the first break the score was level, 10-10. A similar pattern was repeated in the second quarter, with each team shooting one-for-one until the Silver Ferns got on a roll, scoring three consecutive goals in the final minute. Goal shooter Maria Folau had started slow, but improved during this period, moving from 63 per cent accuracy to 85. Her shooting partner in goal attack, Ameliaranne Ekenasio, also outsmarted the Diamonds multiple times, drawing both circle defenders away to leave Folau free in open space for the feed. Unfortunately Australia did not learn from this mistake and it cost them. Even the injection of Sarah Klau at goal keeper in the third quarter could not stop the momentum. Brimming with confidence and sticking to the dogged defence that helped them reach the big dance, New Zealand continued to test the Aussies, scoring six unanswered goals in this quarter to take a seven-goal lead in the final break.
While the Diamonds fought hard in those last 15 minutes, they could not take back the lead. Basset scored to make the difference just one in the final minute, but a mixture of penalties meant the Silver Ferns held on to possession. The experience of their older and more capped players paid dividends in ensuring they held onto concentration in such a big event. One of them, Casey Kopua, who was awarded player of the match, influenced the game from the back with two intercepts, three gains and an important rebound. She gets to leave the game a hero, having played her final game in a black and silver dress. But Australia should be proud of their performance, especially the fight they showed in the fourth quarter to bring the difference back to a single goal.
[Note, comments on matches taken from various netball related websites]
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