By Matt Hardy
England’s first ever appearance in a Netball World Cup final ended in defeat as the Roses were beaten 45-61 by Australia in South Africa.
World No1 side Australia were heavy favourites heading to the match having appeared in every World Cup final ever.
But England had dramatically beaten their final opponents in the group stages and also toppled them in the 2018 Commonwealth Games final.
They were unable to complete an upset twice in one tournament, however, and Australia lifted their 12th title in Cape Town on Sunday.
“We are really grateful for that silver medal and over time I’m sure that it will sink in. But right now it is a measure of the belief we had in ourselves, the route we took to the final…[that we are disappointed],” England head coach Jess Thirlby said.
“We are obviously gutted with a losing margin like that in our first final but such is the difference between seasoned finalists and a team in their first final.
“The win on Thursday, we hit some of our biggest stats ever against Australia, and still only won by one, so we weren’t complacent about things.
“Today was always going to be a tough ask, you just can’t throw ball like that against Australia in a final. If we do that we need to find a way to win it back. Unfortunately both of those things alluded us for long periods during the match.”
