Samantha Wallace scored 43 goals to outscore Shimona Nelson in the New South Wales Swifts’ 62-53 victory over the Collingwood Magpies at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Suncorp Super League netball action today.
Wallace’s 43 goals came from 45 attempts as the Swifts outscored the Magpies 19-15 in the second quarter to take a four-goal lead into half-time. The first quarter ended 14-14.
Led by Nelson, who had 43 attempts at goal and Gabrielle Sinclair, who was perfect from the field for her six goals, the Magpies closed the gap when they outscored the Swifts 15-12 in the third quarter to keep things close.
However, the third-place Swifts rallied to score 17 goals to the Magpies’ nine to close out the match and seal their third victory of the season.
In the other match played today, Shamera Sterling pulled in two rebounds but had 17 penalties as the Adelaide Thunderbirds lost 58-59 to the Sunshine Coast Lightning. It was their fifth loss on the trot and remain anchored to the bottom of the table.
Lenise Potgieter led the scoring for the Thunderbirds with 34 goals and Georgie Horjus had 20 but Cara Koenen’s 26 goals and Steph Wood’s 16 enough to emerge one-point victors.
On Saturday, the Melbourne Vixens ran out 66-64 winners over Queensland Firebirds, their first win of the season.
The Vixens were near-perfect shooting as Mwai Kumwenda scored 27 goals from just 28 attempts and Rahni Samason scored 19 from 19.
Meanwhile, Romelda Aiken scored 39 goals and Gretel Bueta 16, as the Firebirds lost their fourth match in five games.
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'We've done really well' - Brook upbeat despite Australia ODI series defeat
Harry Brook focused on the positives as he saluted England's performances, despite their 3-2 ODI series defeat to Australia.
Australia clinched a 49-run victory by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the final ODI in Bristol.
England had recovered from 2-0 down in the series with Brook, who captained the hosts in Jos Buttler's absence, leading their charge with 110 not out and 87 in the third and fourth ODI respectively.
Brook (72) and Ben Duckett (107) put on a fantastic 132-run stand on Sunday to set a target of 310, though it proved academic as DLS came into play with the tourists on 165-2 with 29 overs remaining when rain stopped play.
However, the stand-in skipper believes the experience will benefit him and his team-mates in the long run.
"It's not just the present now, we're looking long-term," said Brook, who was named the ODI player of the summer.
"We're trying to build towards the bigger series and competitions. It's a new brand of cricket we're trying to play, and I think we've done that perfectly.
"Getting out of the power play, we didn't get the wickets we wanted, but outside of that, we've done really well."
On his own performance, he added: "It's nice to get on the board, score a few runs and contribute to some wins. I haven't played too much, but it's nice to finally get the tempo of ODI cricket.
"Captaincy has been good. It's something I might think about in the future, but I'll sit back and let Jos do it for now."
Australia clinch series win over England after rain stops play
Australia clinched a 49-run victory on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the final ODI against England to seal a 3-2 series win.
Having won the third and fourth ODIs to tee up a grandstand finish to the series in Bristol, England started well on Sunday.
England, inspired by Ben Duckett's second ODI century and Harry Brook (72), looked well set after storming to 202 before the latter was dismissed.
Yet the hosts slipped from 202-3 to 238-6 in less than 10 overs, with Duckett going for 107, and though Adil Rashid (36) steadied the ship, Australia were set a manageable target of 310 to win.
In total, eight wickets fell for 107 runs, all of them to spin, with Travis Head (4-28) doing the damage for the tourists, who subsequently set about making inroads into the target.
Head reached 31 from 26 balls before he was dismissed by Brydon Carse (1-36) in the eighth over, while Matthew Short had plundered his way to 58 by the time he was sent packing in the 13th.
Steve Smith (36 not out) and Josh Inglis (28 not out) subsequently took control before the rain closed in with Australia on 165-2 with 29 overs remaining, leaving them clear winners once DLS came into play.
Data Debrief: England's comeback falls short
The weather ultimately frustrated England, but they only have themselves to blame for another batting collapse.
England have slipped to their first defeat in an ODI series of four games or more since a 3-2 loss to South Africa in February 2016, while this loss also snapped a run of three straight 50-over wins at the County Ground.
Australia, meanwhile, clinched their first win in an ODI series of at least four games since they beat Pakistan 5-0 in 2019.
'Frustrated' Schmidt eager to improve after disappointing Rugby Championship
Australia coach Joe Schmidt is determined to build on a disappointing Rugby Championship after being "frustrated" by their 33-13 defeat to New Zealand.
The Wallabies made a strong start on Saturday but found themselves trailing at the break after a topsy-turvy first half, and failed to get a single point on the board in the second as the All Blacks stretched their lead.
It was their ninth consecutive loss to New Zealand, who also beat them 31-28 in round five, and they have now won only one of their last six Test matches, losing the other five after making an unbeaten start under Schmidt.
Australia finished last in the four-nation tournament, with Schmidt rueing some of their missed chances after they slumped in the second half.
"I thought we created a few things early but what we had a lot of frustration [about] in that first half was slow ball," said Schmidt on Stan Sport.
"We were digging the ball out from amongst bodies on our side and that was really frustrating because it broke our rhythm.
"We started really strongly, got that try and then missed a couple of chances. They connect so well back off the sideline a couple of times, running back laterally and then connecting up with square runners.
"But just talking to Scott Barrett there, we made them work for it, and we're going to keep working for ourselves and make sure opponents do have to work for anything they get, and we try to get a little bit more."
Australia's tour in November, which includes Tests against England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the nations that contribute players to the Lions, is next up, and Schmidt is looking forward to their next challenge.
"It's a bit like when we come up against the All Blacks, you know it's going to be a really tough tour.
"But if we can keep building through that tour, then I think we put ourselves in a position of potentially being competitive next July [against the Lions]."
Meanwhile, New Zealand's victory was their first in Wellington since June 2018, ending a five-game winless run in the capital.
They made a slow start to the game before rallying to a dominant comeback win, but captain Scott Barrett was just happy to triumph in Wellington.
"Really pleased to reverse the curse," All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett said.
"We didn't start too well, but I'm really pleased with how we finished: some grit in defence, and we held out the Aussies."
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