Netball: England beat Australia to seal historic first series win
Last updated on .From the section Netball
England's netball team claimed a first series win against world number one side Australia with a 51-49 victory at Wembley Arena on Wednesday.
Anna Mayes's side made history by winning the second Test against the much-fancied visitors.
It followed Sunday's 58-53 victory in the first Test - which was only the third time England had beaten Australia.
Victory at Wembley gave the hosts a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
England, ranked third in the world, will play their final game against 10-time world champions Australia at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on Saturday.
Captain Pamela Cookey said: "It's amazing. The girls really put in a performance tonight. I'm so proud of them."
But she now expects her team's high-profile win to boost the sport's status.
"The sport is growing. This week has been amazing. We're glad we can put a performance in to keep building the sport.
"Our goal is the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That is what we are working towards and we're getting there.
"Head coach Anna Mayes has been working so hard with us. The entire support staff have been pounding on us saying, 'you can be better, you can be better'."
Australia, with their historic loss to the home side seemingly still playing on their minds, came out at the whistle with purpose.
In a pacy first quarter, Australia scored the opening goal and ran to a 15-11 lead as England failed to handle the Diamonds's quick-fire passing.
But England fought their way back to 27-26 at the interval and continued their momentum to score five goals without reply on the way to a 40-37 lead at the end of the third.
With Australia on the back foot, England were relentless. The home side kept up the pressure with Joanne Harten at goal attack and Kadeen Corbin at goal shooter enjoying success at the net, much to the delight of a rapturous 7,000-strong crowd.
It is only England's fourth win in more than 60 games against the Diamonds but suggests that they may now be ready to challenge Australia's dominance at the top of the world rankings.
"After these performances, we're definitely knocking on their door," Cookey said. "I'm not going to say we are there yet, but if we can do this consistently, we will build towards getting there.
"They have their professional league over there [in Australia and New Zealand]. Our Superleague is getting bigger and bigger and the more players we can get playing the sport, the more competition we have."
Starting line-ups
England: Joanne Harten, Pamela Cookey, Sasha Corbin, Serena Guthrie, Sara Bayman, Ama Agbeze, Eboni Beckford-Chambers
Australia: Caitlin Bassett, Erin Bell, Madison Browne, Kim Ravaillion, Renae Hallinan, Chanel Gomes, Rebecca Bulley
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Sad that an historic achievement like this has received so few comments and yet another footballing tantrum has received over 1000.....
I was with you until that last little bit, the use of one word. I agree that women should be more supportive of sports generally, simply because sport is a powerful thing that holds the key to many things. However, what is the idea of labelling sports "theirs" or presumably ours? Women play football, I know plenty of women that support football. The idea of male and female sports...dated.
What a pathetic comment and attempt at humour.
My daughter (15) plays netball and is captain of her town team, there is not enough media coverage of the sport.
You would be surprised how many girls/ladies play on a daily basis.
And it is a non contact sport but it is very intensive and also very competitive, why post on a netball forum when you have no interest in the sport.
Rant over
Some might point to Angling as being a massively popular sport and pastime which receives next-to-no coverage whatsoever. So I would image quite a big potential demand here and yet no supply.
Secondly, my principal point was and is that there has been minimal acknowledgement in a football obsessed media of a tremendous achievement by a British womens' international sports team.
Sky Sports show this sport so its profile is being raised.
It should be a professional sport but as with most womens sport it doesn't get the recognition.
Well Done Ladies.
Height is an advantage at basketball, but having the right type of physique is an advantage in any sport.
The comment about no skill necessary is absurd.
Tit for tit comment is also absurd, if it was, every game would be decided by one score or a draw.
tbh just sounds like a troll who wantes an argument
"Basketball is a minority sport with a small cult following"
It's played all over the world, not just in a handful of Commonwealth countries, and in front of crowds ten times the size of a netball crowd.
The grass roots level of the sport - Hi five netball in primary schools - is already in place, the competition I've seen in the past 3 years, is of a very high standard.
I look forward to netball being included in the Olympic games
@33 yes it is goal for goal, those things you mentioned become irrelevent when the teams just endlessly do tit for tat scoring.
Handball is No.2 in Denmark (30k+ attendances!), Sweden, Germany & the Netherlands, but basketball is in the others I mentioned.
Handball is the 2nd most popular sport in Europe by participation, not by attendance or TV figures.