Tracey Neville: England will be 'unbeatable' in a final

England head coach Tracey Neville says her side will be "unbeatable" in a world final with the Commonwealth Games and a home World Cup on the horizon.

Only two teams - Australia and New Zealand - have ever claimed gold at a major international competition.

England last contested a World Cup final in 1975, but Neville believes the gap to the top two nations is closing.

"We're so close. We've been working on a winning mentality and at our best we can beat anyone," she told BBC Sport.

"Any England team in a final, I think we'll be unbeatable."

Ahead of April's Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, England face New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the fourth edition of the Quad Series.

The Roses play New Zealand at the Copper Box in London on Saturday - a match you can watch live on the BBC - before hosting world champions Australia on Monday, 22 January and travelling to Johannesburg to play South Africa on 28 January.

England will then welcome the Netball World Cup for a third time, with Liverpool hosting the event in July 2019.

England's record against top two

England, who are ranked third in the world, last beat world number one side Australia in 2013.

Under head coach Anna Stembridge, they claimed first ever series win with a 3-0 whitewash on home soil and Neville, who took over in 2015, described it as a "defining moment" for the sport in England.

But the Roses have not beaten the world champions in the five years since, suffering an agonising 47-46 defeat in last year's Quad Series.

"We came out with some really good performances against the world number one and two last year," said Neville.

"But what we need to do is to collate those and put out a match-winning performance. That comes from being consistent over 60 minutes and believing in each other."

Having begun 2017 with a record of just four wins in 88 meetings against world number two side New Zealand, England defeated the Silver Ferns twice in 2017.

But they missed out on a first series win after falling to a 62-55 defeat in the final Test of a three-match series.

"We have been doing a lot of work off-court to get our culture right and around how we want to present ourselves and be identified," said Neville.

"I don't doubt these players' mentalities. Winning is definitely in their blood, but netball is a team sport. We had up and down performances throughout the court last year and everyone has got to shine together."

Mentality has held us back - Mentor

Mentor captained Sunshine Coast Lightning to the 2017 Super Netball Grand Final in Australia

Despite never having won a major international tournament, England secured their maiden Fast5 world title in October last year.

The Roses sent a strong squad to Melbourne, including 2017 Super Netball player of the year Geva Mentor, and were rewarded with a dominant victory in the shorter form of the game.

And defender Mentor, 33, who has played her club netball in Australia since 2008, believes England are closing the gap on the top two nations.

"This time last year we lost by one to Australia, which goes to show that England have actually come on a lot.

"For us we've always had that elite level there but it's just about that winning culture and having that mentality to be able to challenge those top nations.

"We've identified that in the past it has probably been our mental state and just not learning and not knowing how to win which has held us back."

Of the 14-strong England squad selected for the Quad Series, six currently play their domestic netball in Australia and 10 have experience of playing down under or in New Zealand.

Mentor, who captained Sunshine Coast Lightning to the Super Netball title last year, believes the experience gained from playing overseas is unbeatable.

"The Superleague in England is really picking up and for the girls playing out in Australia and New Zealand, we've actually learnt out to grind out games and how to win them.

"When we go back and play in Australia and New Zealand those players become our teammates so we get to know their strengths and their weaknesses. We get to see them as actual individuals rather than just this force that comes in and wins games.

"It's important for us to take away that they're just normal, they're just human beings like us, and we can start to identify where we can attack them."

2018 Quad Series fixtures

Saturday, 20 January (Copper Box Arena, London)

South Africa v Australia 15:30 GMT

England v New Zealand 18:00 GMT

Monday, 22 January (Copper Box Arena, London)

England v Australia 19:45 GMT

Thursday, 25 January (Ellispark Arena, Johannesburg)

South Africa v New Zealand 17:00 GMT

Sunday, 28 January (Ellispark Arena, Johannesburg)

New Zealand v Australia 10:00 GMT

South Africa v England 12:30 GMT