Netball Quad series: England earn dramatic 48-48 tie with Australia

England scored a dramatic last-second goal to tie a tense match 48-48 against world number one side Australia in the Quad Series at London's Copper Box.

The two sides will meet again in Wednesday's final, after having already secured their spots with wins against South Africa and New Zealand.

England head coach Jess Thirlby said: "We're trying to disrupt the world order of netball."

New Zealand earned their first series win, 54-43 over South Africa.

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After a tense opening quarter the Diamonds were the first to settle and managed to wrestle a lead in a frantic opening period.

Eleanor Cardwell struggled to get the better of goal keeper Sarah Klau, with Thirlby seeing fit to move Housby to goal shooter in the second quarter to allow her to match up against her New South Wales team-mate, with whom she won the Super Netball Grand Final in 2021.

With impressive shooter George Fisher absent it was down to Cardwell and Housby to rack up the goals, but Housby seemed out of sorts, uncharacteristically missing shots and relying heavily on Cardwell.

Swings in momentum and some unforced errors saw the Roses chasing the game but Thirlby took the opportunity to trial some new combinations, particularly in mid-court, with the game essentially a dead rubber.

Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, whose favoured position is goal attack, featured at wing attack with Laura Malcolm given a run-out at centre while Stacey Francis-Bayman got her first outing of the series.

But this was still England against Australia and with eight minutes to go in the final period Cardwell scored to draw the match level at 41-41.

The Roses continued to struggle for consistency but late drama can never be ruled out - and Housby, who is well known for providing it, having scored the goal that won England Commonwealth gold in 2018, once again kept her composure with time running out to secure a draw.

"The thing that impresses me the most about this group is their character and refusal to lose," said Thirlby.

"They're making it hard for teams to beat them and these are teams that are ranked above them - we need to be an England team that can win when it really matters the most.

"This group are so robust, mentally more than anything is most probably our biggest improvement. The girls talk about their connection and togetherness and the fact that they genuinely do enjoy each other's company off the court as much as on it."

The two teams will meet again in the final at 19:30 GMT on Wednesday with commentary available on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the website and app.

Quarter-time scores

• Q1 - 9-12

• Q2 - 19-23

• Q3 - 32-38

• Q4 - 48-48

Starting sevens

England: GK - Usoro-Brown; GD - Guscoth; WD - Guthrie; C - Clarke; WA - Metcalf; GA - Housby; GS - Cardwell

Australia: GK - Klau; GD - Weston; WD - Brazill; C - Price; WA - Watson; GA - Wood; GS - Koenen

New Zealand victorious over South Africa

The Silver Ferns earned their first win of the tournament with an assured performance against the Proteas, looking more like the side that won the World Cup in 2019.

South Africa are without a win in this series so far and have been sloppy with the ball but showed signs of improvement since their 71-47 thrashing by England in the opening match.

The two sides will face each other again on Wednesday in the third-place play-off.