Summary

  • Day one of the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa

  • NOW: England 90-29 Barbados in Pool B

  • Scotland open Pool B campaign with 55-49 loss to Malawi; Wales lose 61-50 to South Africa in Pool C

  • Defending champions New Zealand beat Trinidad & Tobago 76-27 and Australia win 86-30 against Zimbabwe

  • Top three in each of the four preliminary pools advance to second pool stage

  1. Good night!published at 21:00 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Well, that's day one in Cape Town done.

    Thanks for joining us this evening for all the action as England got their World Cup campaign underway with victory over Barbados.

    Shall we do it all again tomorrow?

    See you then!

  2. What's coming up on Saturday?published at 20:59 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    These matches come thick and fast and Saturday sees all 16 teams take to court once again for the second lot of Pool matches. Here's what we've got to look forward to.

    • Zimbabwe v Fiji
    • New Zealand v Uganda
    • Australia v Tonga
    • Jamaica v Wales
    • South Africa v Sri Lanka
    • Scotland v Barbados
    • England v Malawi
    • Trinidad & Tobago v Singapore

    We'll have live text commentary of England v Malawi and you can keep up to date with all the live scores and fixtures here.

  3. Postpublished at 20:55 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    There were scenes of joy from England at the end of that victory, jumping around and hugging. And why not?

    More than 20 goals in each quarter✅

    All 12 players out on court ✅

    Opening day victory✅

    A successful day at the World Cup for the Roses.

  4. 'Came good in the end'published at 20:53 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    FT: England 90-29 Barbados

    England co-captain Layla Guscoth speaking after her team's opening match win:

    "We wanted to be consistent across four quarters, we didn't know what Barbados would be like they have two of our old team-mates so a bit of time to work out as we went along but we came good in the end."

    On facing former team-mates Kadeen and Sasha Corbin: "Always strange to play against old team-mates, they're fast they're athletic so good to play a team like that in our first hit out."

  5. Scotland fall to Malawi defeatpublished at 20:49 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    FT: Malawi 55-49 Scotland

    Scotland just couldn't hold on to that lead they had worked so hard to draw out in the opening quarter as Malawi pulled it back to take a 55-49 victory.

    Thistles coach Tamsin Greenway will be really disappointed with that after her side had made such a positive start.

    They managed just eight goals in the final quarter as Malawi put up 20. Next up for the Scots it's Barbados and they will take some positives from this evening's performance.

    Scotland v MalawiImage source, Getty Images
  6. FULL-TIMEpublished at 20:41 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 90-29 Barbados

    Super vision from Pitman to ping in the pass to the completely unmarked Tchine. A combination that has been tried and tested at domestic side London Pulse this season. 89, can they get the 90th goal?

    Again fired in to Tchine and she has seconds on the clock to make it happen. She does!

    Smiles all round as England bring up 90 goals as the buzzer sounds, sealing a dominant victory.

  7. Postpublished at 20:38 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 87-28 Barbados

    A glimpse of a little something from Barbados as they move the ball up court with pace and sink the shot. They will already be looking to matches against Scotland and Malawi to secure a coveted top-three finish in Pool B.

    England remain well on top, can they get to 90 before time is up? Just over a minute to do so.

  8. Postpublished at 20:33 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 80-27 Barbados

    Cardwell is on the deck and the umpire just tells everyone to 'please calm down'.

    She's back up and running and sinks the shot before Williams plucks one out of the air at the other end and sends it up the court for Housby to bring up the 80 goals.

  9. Postpublished at 20:30 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 75-26 Barbados

    The Cape Town International Convention Centre has emptied out somewhat with this match in the bag but the England fans remain in full voice.

    Fran Williams chants seem to be the latest sing song choice.

  10. Postpublished at 20:28 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 74-25 Barbados

    England ran away with this match quite some time ago but Jess Thirlby still won't want to see the level from her side slip with the scoreline so comfortable.

    Meanwhile, Liv Tchine makes way for Helen Housby.

  11. Postpublished at 20:26 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 71-24 Barbados

    Oh dear. Akeena Stoute jumps with Liv Tchine to prevent the shot but falls awkwardly, that doesn't look good.

    She's replaced by Tamara Trotman, hope that's nothing serious.

    A new rule at this World Cup has been the introduction of three reserve players in the squad should one of your original 12 suffer an injury.

  12. Postpublished at 20:23 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q4: England 68-23 Barbados

    Right, can we stop with the changes now please?

    Laura Malcolm moves to centre while Layla Guscoth moves to wing defence and Fran Williams is back in at goal defence with Funmi Fadoju shifted to goal keeper.

    Erm, Kadeen Corbin is also playing goal keeper for Barbados. So we've seen her at goal attack, goal shooter and now goal keeper - always good to be versatile, right?

  13. Scotland lead Malawi but gap narrowingpublished at 20:21 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: Scotland 41-35 Malawi

    Scotland are continuing to cling on to their lead against Malawi but it is getting more slender by the quarter. They have now lost the last two quarters 13-12 as Malawi build momentum and keep chipping away at the gap.

    Can the Scots hold on for just a little bit longer and get the win?

    Scotland celebrateImage source, Getty Images
  14. The joker, the forgetful one and the DJ - meet the England Roses teampublished at 20:18 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Media caption,

    Netball World Cup 2023: England Roses on who has the biggest banter, skills & temper

    So, we've seen England's game faces on court in this match, but what are the Roses really like away from the court?

    BBC Sport spoke to co-captains Natalie Metcalf and Layla Guscoth to get the inside track on their team-mates.

    Who is the prankster? Who would you go to for advice? Who gets the party started? And which player played an entire match with an Airpod in and didn't realise?

    Find out here.

  15. Q3: England 65-22 Barbadospublished at 20:18 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Yet another dominant quarter from England, who will be thrilled to have scored more than 20 goals but also kept Barbados' score down.

    England are 15 minutes away from opening their World Cup campaign with victory in Cape Town.

  16. Postpublished at 20:16 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: England 64-22 Barbados

    Barbados just leaking goals now as Cardwell sinks one from range.

    Goal keeper Faye Agard receives a caution for persistent contact, her timing has just been a little off so she'll need to tidy that up or it's a warning.

  17. Postpublished at 20:13 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: England 60-21 Barbados

    Four minutes remain in the third quarter and Tchine just keeps racking up those goals.

    Possibly more importantly they have tidied up even further defensively and stifled Barbados' attack, limiting them to just three goals in more than 10 minutes.

  18. Postpublished at 20:10 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: England 56-20 Barbados

    The umpires are just having a little chat, something about wiping the court or something.

    Anyway England use the opportunity to make another change as Nat Metcalf makes way for Eleanor Cardwell at goal attack.

    As I mentioned before Jess Thirlby will be looking to use this match to trial out her different combinations, we've now seen all 12 players out on court and she will see that as a positive.

  19. Postpublished at 20:06 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: England 53-19 Barbados

    Speed speed speed as Barbados sloppily lose the ball and Geva Mentor picks up. England work the ball through the court lightning quick and Tchine rewards.

    It's already 11-1 in this quarter, that England defence have been pretty unforgiving so far.

  20. Postpublished at 20:05 British Summer Time 28 July 2023

    Q3: England 52-19 Barbados

    England head coach Jess Thirlby does the little mid-game chat with the commentary team, wonder how they really feel about that?

    Anyway here's what she said:

    "Tournament netball and I trust in the whole squad, always a bit of first game nerves so the sooner we shake those off the better. We've got better with each quarter so far.

    "We're not getting carried away with the scoreboard we want a performance. More about the processes today."