Dominant Australia crush England's hopes of second successive Commonwealth Games gold

England’s dramatic last-second Commonwealth Games gold medal victory over Australia four years ago was so staggering for the netball world because it was not meant to happen. In Birmingham on Saturday, things reverted to form.

For all that England had a strong belief that they could successfully defend their title on home soil, they entered this tournament ranked third in the world and the best they can now leave with is bronze.

Given what had happened in 2018, hopes were high that another thriller could be in store. In that context, what played out in this semi-final was a total anticlimax.

At no point did England look like winning, falling three goals further behind with each of the first three quarters to leave an insurmountable task. The final 60-51 scoreline reflected Australia’s dominance.

'We gave ourselves a mountain to climb'

“It’s a defeat so it’s meant to hurt,” said England head coach Jess Thirlby. “We have to acknowledge the pain of losing. Sport is brutal.

“If you play really well and you lose then there’s an element where you can get your heads round it, but today we gave ourselves such a mountain to climb.

“It is a disappointment for now, but we can’t sulk. We are a good team, up until now we have performed really well and grown into the tournament. It’s a blip at a really bad time and tomorrow needs to be a better performance again.”

Earlier this year, Thirlby had admitted her side were “trying to disrupt the world order of netball”. For so long, Australia and New Zealand have sat at the top of the pile. A hefty turnover in players has seen New Zealand fall from such heights over the past year, but Australia’s status as world No 1 has stood untested.

Amid the tension of such an important match, there was some humour just a few minutes in when an England goal post needed replacing after Layla Guscoth, attempting a dramatic flying intercept, smashed into it with such force that she ended up straddling it as it skewed at an awkward angle.

As four Birmingham 2022 volunteers then struggled to wrestle the new post into place, Geva Mentor trundled over and gave it an almighty yank to pull it upright, sparking huge roars from the 9,500-strong capacity crowd.

By that point, England were already on the back foot - a position from which they never recovered.

Toiling in their efforts to find a route through centre court and into the attacking third, they were called for held ball three times in one short period as options seemed to disappear. Partly down to some suffocating work from Australia’s defence and mid-court players, it was nonetheless impossible not to wonder how different things might have been if Thirlby had been able to call on former captain Serena Guthrie, who has retired from netball after announcing her pregnancy earlier this year.

Six goals down at half-time, Thirlby repeatedly looked to her bench, using 11 of the 12 players at her disposal, but none could make the desired impact.

Former basketball player Gretel Bueta dictated proceedings in Australia’s shooting circle, missing just one shot all game and dominating under the post to nullify Mentor.

Increasingly exasperated at calls going against them, England’s players closed an 11-point gap to six at one stage, before Australia pulled further clear with the end in sight.

“There was nothing in there tactically that we didn’t expect,” said Thirlby. “Bueta is a weapon - we know that. She is brilliant and versatile coming out of the circle.

“We were found wanting for ball today, and that’s uncharacteristic for us. Australia starved us of that ball. We certainly didn’t give up, but Australia were smart.”

Helen Housby, who sunk the winning shot in the final four years ago, admitted: “We got beaten by the better team today. Australia showed up a bit smarter than we did. We had them in periods of the game but we didn’t do it consistently enough.”

While Australia maintained their perfect record of reaching every Commonwealth Games final to set up a fascinating showdown with Jamaica, England will fight for bronze against a New Zealand side they brushed aside 54-44 in the pool stage. They should triumph, but it is not the medal they came for.