England made it three wins from three at the Melbourne Commonwealths 2006 with a 78-18 thrashing of a spirited St Vincent and the Grenadines. This win puts England on top of their group, ahead of New Zealand only on points difference; tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd March) will see the long awaited clash between the two.

Once again, all of England’s players got some valuable court time, and experience. Louisa Brownfield (Mavericks) was the game’s top-scorer with 26 goals from 30 attempts. England play New Zealand on Wednesday (22 March) and South Africa on Thursday (23 March).

England’s captain, Olivia Murphy, said:

We wanted to start strongly and get a good score in the first quarter, and give all of our players some Commonwealth Games experience. We’re building all the time for our games against New Zealand and South Africa, so we wanted to improve with each game … We’ve got a day without a game tomorrow and then we will need to improve again against New Zealand.

We’re progressing nicely, but we now need to step-up a couple of levels against New Zealand. We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing the number one team in the world.

The past three games provided some essential match experience for some of England’s more green players, but now they have two crunch matches that will really tell a story.

England’s netballers began their quest for Commonwealth Games medals with a victory over Malawi in their pool A match at Melbourne’s State Netball Centre, winning 63-47.

England made it look difficult at times, particularly so in the second half, and England’s coach Marg Caldow knows they’ll have to find some better form before they face slightly tougher opposition in the form of New Zealand and South Africa next week:

It was a bit patchy, but it was what I expected really. Malawi are extremely unorthodox and play very differently to most teams.

said Caldow.

England established their superiority early and led20-11 after the first quarter. Dunn netted 13 goals from 16 attempts, while Cookey madde her mark with seven goals.

England went into the half time break leading 36-24 and struggled to extend their lead in the third quarter which ended 50-36. The victory was never in serious doubt although Malawi all-but matched England in the final quarter as Caldow gave all 12 of her squad important match practice. Dunn ended the game top scorer with 23 goals. Cookey got 13 and 21-year-old Louisa Brownfield from Thundersley in Essex, who came on for Dunn in the second half, netted 19.

England’s next match is against Fiji tomorrow (Saturday 18 March) at 13.00 Melbourne time.

Bath retained their lead this weekend with a rout of the Celtic Dragons. This won’t be good morale for the Welsh national team going into the Commonwealth Games, with many of their players being bettered by their Bath oppoite numbers.Loughborough had an impressive win over Leeds Met Carnegie, and Mavericks beat Brunel.

In the one lower-table clash of the weekend, Northern Thunder beat Team Northumbria by a closer-than-close 1 point.

Full Results:

Jamaica have recently confirmed ther 12-strong squad that will compete in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

The line-up is as follows:

Wales have announced their 12-strong squad that will compete in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Wales play in Pool B with, among others, Australia.

The line-up is as follows:

TeamBath’s emphatic win over Team Northumbria keeps Bath securely at the top of the Figleaves Superleague table.

But the score, Jan Crabtree claims, doesn’t do Northumbria any justice: “I truly don’t believe that the margin was a true reflection of the match and the way it went”, said Crabtree “They played really well throughout”.

The first quarter ended with TeamBath leading 14-9, and the second saw them extend their lead to 30-18. The scoring really went haywire in the third quarter which ended with Bath storming away with a 50-25 lead.

Bath’s superb performance against a very able Northumbria team shows the depth of the squad (Crabtree made sure everyone on the squad got a game); it also shows the choking defence and searing attack that the team can produce.

An impressive performance by the league leaders, and one which assits in cementing their \r\nclaim for the top place.

Loughborough Lightening v Mavericks

The visiting Mavericks team looked strong. Their international defence of Amanda Newton (good to see her back on court after a long lay off through injury,) Janet Colbourne and Naomi Stenhouse were all available and they played! Lightning turned out an experienced squad although Ama Agbeze, Rebecca James and Jo Munnion - all regulars this season - were not to be seen.

The game started at a frenetic pace, with ball and players moving end to end. Scoring was slow to start - 4 minutes gone and only 2 goals on the board - to Loughborough. Interceptions ruled those early moments. The pace was such that when Janet Colbourne took a knock and was ready to resume immediately, her captain told her to take a time-out break for the benefit of the rest of the team. At the end of the first quarter Loughborough trailed 7-9.

The second quarter saw Loughborough dominate with a 14-8 scoreline, leaving them 21-17 in front.

Mavericks made some changes, with Heather Clarke coming on for a sickly Lynsey Armitage at GS. They fought back to take the quarter by 3, to leave them trailing by only 1.

The last quarter was set to be a nail biter. Mavericks kept the pressure on and took the lead. The clock had been turned off and we were in the last minute. There were seconds to go and the score stood at 38 all. The ball came down to Alex Astle and she shot for the net. Missed. The timekeeper was on her feet. Margaret Deighton blew- penalty/pass.

Alex shot and the ball went in. The whistle blew. Loughborough Lightning had won 39-38.

Starting sevens

• Loughborough Lightning
  • Alex Astle - GS
  • Lisa Stephenson - GS
  • Karen Atkinson - WA
  • Olivia Murphy - C
  • Jade Clarke - WD
  • Laura Brown - GD
  • Hannah Reid -GK
• Mavericks
  • Lynsey Armitage - GS
  • Louisa Brownfield - GA
  • Ann Marie Muller - WA
  • Deb Jones - C
  • Naomi Stenhouse - WD
  • Amanda Newton - GD
  • Janet Colbourne - GK

As always, more netball pictures are available at Countdavid’s wonderful site.

An official review of netball rules will be held by the IFNA Rules Board in 2007. The IFNA will look at the rules and at the proposals for rule changes submitted by interested parties. If appropriate, the changed rule will be subject to a trial period in which its suitability will be put to the test.

We’ve a thread in our forum on the subject of rules. Why not come and discuss the rules you hate (or love!)?

England Netball are offering a chance to have your voice heard. Go and fill in the proposal form, and have your say!

TeamBath, current leaders of the netball superleague, bounced back from last week’s gripping defeat to arch-rivals Loughborough, to record a 55-31 away win against Bedford Mavericks.

Geva Mentor, the team-bath goal-keeper, had a stunning game turning over a number of balls in defence.

TeamBath were 30-15 up by half-time, but the Mavericks launched a counter-attack in the third quarter and scored nine goals for no reply in their best spell of the match. TeamBath regained their composure and took the win 55-31 to stay at the top of the Figleaves.com netball super league.

TeamBath Starting Seven:

GS: Rachel Dunn; GA: Pamela Cookey WA: Tamsin Greenway C: Sonja Crowe WD: Clare Elsley; GD: Billy Bowers; GK: Geva Mentor

Quarter scores (TeamBath first): 15-7, 15-8, 11-11, 14-5

Fresh from a series defeat in Jamaica, England have named the England squad for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The team includes a few suprises, and a few younger players, in the form of Louisa Brownfield, Pamela Cookey and Geva Mentor. All three helped England win a Silver last summer in the World Youth Netball Championships. Rather predictably, many of the squad come from either TeamBath (3 players) or Loughborough Lightning (4 players). All players are drawn from 4 Figleaves Teams.

The full squad is as follows:

England’s first game is against Malawi on the 17th March 2006. Full fixtures can be found on our pages dedicated to Netball at Melbourne 2006.