England drowned out in Bath

McMahon: Star performer for Aussies

Australia showed why they are still the world's best team with a convincing 55-44 win over England in the Co-operative International Series, maintaining their impressive Test record against their great rivals.

Apart from the weekend loss in the Co-operative World Netball Series, which came in Fast Net and not the full traditional game, then you have to go back to the early '80s to find the last England victory against the 'auld enemy'.

The meeting at the University of Bath Netball Centre meant a change of pace for those who had battled through the six-minute quarters in Manchester.

England took the first centre but were turned over early on by the strong Australian defence and it was the Diamonds who put the first goal on the board, as they attempted to bully their way into a lead.

Wake-up call

They were looking strong at 5-3 ahead but as the ball slipped through the net England woke up.

Co-captain Sonia Mkoloma began bellowing out defensive calls as she marshalled the impressive Aussie skipper Sharelle McMahon, who in one move in the first quarter still managed to turn, shoot and score whilst tumbling off the court.

Jade Clark, England's WD, had a big influence on the second part of the quarter with a number of key interceptions and with Louisa Brownfield finding the net with her shots the momentum swayed England's way.

The second quarter had it all. England started three goals ahead, moved into a five-point lead before being hauled back. The 15-minute period ended with the hosts on the wrong end of a 27-25 scoreline.

A physically strong performance by England in the attacking circle helped build that five goal lead, and it was two-and-a-half minutes before the ball made it to Australian shooter.

Karen Atkinson's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' inspired interception early on that was one of the highlights of an impressive passage of play.

Unfortunately it was shortly after that the team allowed mistakes to creep in which did not impress England head coach Sue Hawkins.

"Error after error after error, they'll turn it into a shot and you can't afford to do that," she said, also commenting that failing to capitalise on the centre pass was also something the team will also have to improve on.

"At this sort of level as soon as you have possession of the ball you need to score off it," Hawkins added. "The world champions turned a two goal deficit into a two goal advantage."

Quarter three should have been about playing catch-up for England but that did not quite go to plan.

The long-ball tactic seemed to catch on for a bit after Pamela Cookey intercepted an Aussie pass by the centre circle and lofted it down to shooter Jo Harten for an easy score.

Australia had to resort to long shots in the periods where the England defence gave them no other choice.

Full-on assault

However a full-on assault by the Australians sealed the deal in the early part of the final fifteen minutes, the visitors racking up the score with relative ease.

McMahon's overall shooting success was at 85 percent, but she landed 91 percent of her attempts in the last quarter helping earn her Co-operative Player of the Match.

"I think you saw a tired game", said Australia Diamonds head coach Norma Plummer afterwards. "I thought we came home with the goods especially our squad in the last quarter with McMahon and Pratley just opening up the game."

England will now look to re-group ahead of Thursday's Co-operative International Series meeting with New Zealand in Bath.

Q1: 15-12

Q2: 25-27

Q3: 37-41

Q4: 44-55