Jamaica's queen of interceptions Kasey Evering nabs a pass ahead of New Zealand's shooter Irene Van Dyk during their Cable & Wireless World Netball Championship last night. New Zealand won 56-37. -Junior Dowie photoCharmaine Austin, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA CRASHED out of the Cable & Wireless World Netball Champion-ship finals going down 56-37 to second-ranked New Zealand in semi-final action at the National Indoor Sports Centre last night.
As a result, the Silver Ferns will meet world champions Australia in the final this evening at 6:30.
Jamaica still have a chance to improve their ranking from fourth to third when they meet England in the third-place play-off at 4:30 p.m.
The country placed third in the 1991 Championship but since then has only managed fourth or fifth.
The Sunshine Girls got off to an excellent start last night scoring five clear goals before the Ferns got off the mark.
Crucial mistakes in attack put the visitors ahead 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and even further at 27-19 at halftime.
Boasting a tight defence and an extremely accurate attack, New Zealand danced to a 15-goal lead in the third quarter, then 20 before capping off their 19-goal victory.
Irene Van Dyk recorded a 96 per cent shooting average with 47 of 49 attempts however Jamaica's shooting statistics were in the 60-range.
Carla Williams was 25 from 36 tries along with contributions from Simone Forbes and Connie Francis.
Silver Ferns' coach Ruth Aitken was ecstatic.
"We had an inferior start but I am extremely pleased with the final result. Our attacking circle was fantastic and Vilimaina Davu and her one-man show at defence was superb.
"This doesn't meet though that we have the upperhand going into tomorrow's (today's) final. Australia are world champions so they are up a notch but we are both going in at square one and see what happens," she said.
Australia, in the first semi-final, overcame a sloppy start and a mediocre second half against England to record a 45-37 victory and set their sights on a fourth consecutive title.
