NWC 2023: England 62 – Scotland 37
England came out on top in a Home Nations clash to seal a 62-37 win and move into the second stage of the competition.
Group B leaders England took on Scotland for the 10th time at a Netball World Cup on Sunday afternoon in Cape Town and comfortably made it a perfect 10 out of 10 against the Thistles.
Coming off a good win against Barbados a day earlier, the Scots headed into the clash against a side ranked seven places above them full of fire. They managed to inch ahead at the start and were 3-4 up at one point, but a run of six unanswered goals from England saw the Roses levelling matters and then surging ahead. They took that five-goal lead into the first break.
England’s Olivia Tchine and Helen Housby effectively built on that lead in the second quarter as Scotland squandered several opportunities through basic errors. There was some concern as England centre Imogen Allison left the court in the final minute of the first half with what looked like a knock to the shoulder.
The third quarter was a good one for Scotland with several promising passages of play as they enjoyed more ball and put the English under a little more pressure. But ultimately, although England’s scoring rate wasn’t as high as in their previous matches, they remained in control of proceedings and passed a memorable milestone in the third quarter, Tchine
slotting in England’s 8000th goal in Netball World Cup history.
Their 62-37 victory saw England through to the second preliminary stage at the top of Group B with Scotland also progressing as the third-placed side in the group.
England wing attack Chelsea Pitman was named Most Valuable Player and said: “It’s amazing. I didn’t shy away from the fact that this was a goal of mine, to work my way back into the Roses and get to the World Cup so to be here and just be around the girls and feeling this environment is something really special… so I’m just a happy chappy.”
Speaking about England’s progress to the next stage, Layla Guscoth added: “It’s been a good three games. It’s been three completely different styles so I think that’s prepared us well going through to the next phase of things. I think it’s just about building, there’s nothing new that we need to do going into these two phases. It’s just about reflecting on what we’ve done and keep building and pushing towards the end goal.”
Scotland coach Tamsin Greenway, who represented England at three Netball World Cups as a player, said: “I’m really pleased if you understand what our processes are. We know our journey. We came here to challenge Malawi and we did it. We came here to beat Barbados and we did it. We came here to practise against England and learn and we did that.”
“We’ve made improvements from 2019, we put into place some things I needed to fix from our last two games… we did all those things so I’m very happy.”
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Chelsea Pitman (England)
Roses starting seven: Geva Mentor (GK), Francesca Williams (GD), Layla Guscoth (WD), Imogen Allison (C), Chelsea Pitman (WA), Helen Housby (GA), Olivia Tchine (GS)
Substitutes: Eleanor Cardwell, Jade Clarke, Funmi Fadoju, Laura Malcolm, Natalie Metcalf
Thistles starting seven: Rachel Conway (GK), Emily Nicholl (GD), Claire Maxwell (WD), Hannah Leighton (C), Iona Christian (WA), Niamh McCall (GA), Bethan Goodwin (GS)
Substitutes: Emma Barrie, Cerys Cairns, Cerys Finn, Hannah Grant, Emma Loveith one match per day available to all on Sky Sports YouTube.
