The Origin Australian Diamonds remain unbeaten after day five of the Netball World Cup, defeating Malawi by 24 goals after a blistering second half.
The Queens, ranked 6th in the world, managed to stick with the Australians until halftime before things opened up in the third.
This is the fourth time the two nations have met at a World Cup with Australia victorious in all meetings. The last was in Liverpool when the Diamonds beat Malawi by almost 50 goals on their run to the gold medal game.
In this encounter though, it was a much more even contest early.
You couldn’t split the pair, with the two sides trading blows for the first 10 minutes of play before Ash Brazill flew for an intercept to give the Diamonds the breakthrough they needed.
The experienced combination of Steph Wood and Liz Watson was deadly, with the pair always two passes ahead.
Both sides were shooting at 100 per cent before Malawi’s goal shooter Joyce Mvula missed an attempt which was rebounded by Courtney Bruce and punished at the other end.
Melbourne Vixens goaler Mwai Kumwenda was accurate under post for the Queens, shooting 5/5 in the opening term.
The Sunshine Coast Lightning partnership of Wood and Cara Koenen was also on fire, with the duo combining for an unblemished 16 goals in the first term.
Koenen had done enough to unsettle the Malawi goal keeper Loreen Ngwira who was issued a caution late in the first term for persistent contact.
But Ngwira left the court early in the second term, appearing to have tweaked her ankle.
The Diamonds gradually chipped away at the Malawi side in the second, after taking a little while to adapt to their brand of netball.
The world number ones stretched the lead out to five thanks to a great pick-up from Paige Hadley at centre, but the Queens were going nowhere.
Spurred on by the load Malawi cheer squad, the African nation were up for the challenge.
A few messy passages of play from the Diamonds and the Queens managed to even the score.
Mvula started causing some real issues for the Australian defensive pairing of Bruce and Sarah Klau, with her aerial game hard to match.
The Queens were too good in the second term, winning a quarter off the Aussies 12-15, to square the ledger at half-time (28-28) and hold the Diamonds to their lowest scoring quarter for the competition.
Wood stepped up in the second term and was a force both under the post and also taking on a feeding role.
Head coach Stacey Marinkovich made a host of changes to start the third term. Sophie Garbin got the start in goal shooter, with Jo Weston coming into goal defence to start the second half.
The match up between Vixens teammates Weston and Kumwenda was a good one. Weston was able to close the space and picked up a vital tip to send the ball back down the Diamonds’ end.
Jamie-Lee Price was subbed into the game at centre sending Paige Hadley to the bench with three minutes to play in the third. Her impact immediately felt when she took a flying intercept on the edge of Malawi’s goal circle.
It was all green and gold that quarter. Bruce and Weston were able to keep the Malawi goalers quiet, scoring just nine goals in 15 minutes of netball, while Garbin was a standout in the shooting circle.
Far too strong for her opponent Towera Vinkhumbo, Garbin put away 17 goals and lead her Diamonds to a huge win that quarter, 21-9.
Marinkovich made one more change ahead of the final term with Kiera Austin getting her first minutes on court, replacing Wood.
Sunday Aryang also entered the game at wing defence with 10 minutes left on the clock.
It all started to unravel with the Malawi group, while the Diamonds had another gear to go to. Another blistering final quarter and they managed to run out 70-46 victors ahead of a huge encounter with England on Thursday.
Player of the match Steph Wood was an integral part of the win. She finished with 18 goals, 17 feeds and 13 goal assists.
