After a poor showing at the ODI World Cup, the White Ferns found the Twenty20 format under new coach Ben Sawyer more to their liking, and managed to bounce back from a dispiriting defeat in pool play to England to gain revenge in their final match.
Having been embarrassed in pool play by the hosts, held to 71-9 in a thrashing, the White Ferns came in as underdogs for the third-place playoff but built on a respectable showing against Australia in the semifinal to produce their best performance of the tournament and seal a medal.
An excellent all-around bowling display restricted England to 110-9, with all seven bowlers used being economical and the best figures coming from Hayley Jensen (3-24 from four), Sophie Devine (2-11 from three overs) and spinners Amelia Kerr (1-22 from four) and Fran Jonas (2-22 from four).
It still looked to be a nervy chase, given the White Ferns' poor efforts with the bat in their last meeting, but Devine and Suzie Bates quickly put any lingering negative thoughts to bed.
The pair added 54 for the first wicket, but more importantly did so in just 4.3 overs, leaving no run rate pressure for the batters that followed.
Devine top-scored with an unbeaten 51 off 40 balls, and was joined by Kerr (21 not out off 15) to ensure the White Ferns coasted to victory with 49 balls to spare, starting their new era with hope.
Silver Ferns bounce back
The Silver Ferns have returned to the podium at the Commonwealth Games.
After slumping to a fourth-place finish in 2018, another edition without a medal looked possible, if not probable, in 2022, after the Ferns were thrashed by Jamaica in their semifinal.
That booked a bronze medal match against England, who had easily accounted for the Kiwis by 10 goals in pool play, but – much like the White Ferns – the Silver Ferns turned things around to win a medal, triumphing 55-48.
Unlike against Jamaica, this time it was the Silver Ferns who were winning the ball in the midcourt – Kate Heffernan and Whitney Souness particularly prominent – while coach Noeline Taurua landed on a settled lineup after regularly making in-game changes throughout the tournament.
This time, her starting seven played the whole match, with Grace Nweke particularly making the most of that opportunity to slot 44 goals in 48 attempts, helpfully receiving constantly strong feeds from her attacking comrades.
That helped cause a 6-0 run which tilted the game in New Zealand's favour. After a tight first quarter, a flurry of goals saw New Zealand's lead pushed out to 26-19 midway through the second period.
England closed it to four in third quarter, and also late in the fourth quarter, but after each England surge New Zealand had a worthy answer.
The defensive duo of Kelly Jury and Phoenix Karaka provided key contributions late to ensure England's brief rallies never turned into anything more substantial, and with a healthy buffer maintained to the finish, the Ferns held on for a worthy bronze.
Squash stars into final
Squash duo Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy will have a chance to go back-to-back in the women's doubles.
The pair have comfortably moved into the gold medal match, taking an 11-9 11-7 victory over Malaysian duo Yiwen Chan and Ainaa Ampandi. They will play the English pairing of Alison Waters and Sarah-Jane Perry, with Perry having beaten King for bronze in the singles earlier at the Games.
The final will be held at 11.00pm on Monday, and is the last event on the calendar for Kiwi athletes, with King and Landers-Murphy, victors on the Gold Coast in 2018, aiming to double up and finish the campaign on a golden note.
Peeters falls short
Kiwi Tori Peeters has finished fifth in the women's javelin final after being unable to find her best form.
The 28-year-old came into the final with a season-best throw of 62.40m - which would have been easily good enough for bronze - but managed a top effort of 57.86m at Alexander Stadium.
Peeters sat third after the end of the first round but struggled as the competition progressed and finished with two no throws.
The Kiwi began by recording what would be her best distance, initially holding a lead of 1.52m in the bronze medal position.
Peeters saw her advantage trimmed after the second round, managing 52.86m as South African Jo-Ane van Dyk jumped into fourth with a distance of 57.12m. And after recording a no throw next, she was left with work to do at the halfway mark, as Canadian Elizabeth Gleadle took third with an effort of 59.79m.
When India's Annu Rani then did likewise with a fourth throw of 60m, Peeters - managing only 54.18m - was left needing to produce something special with her final two efforts.
But twice stepping out after poor throws, that never looked like transpiring.
World champion Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia seized gold with a clutch final throw of 64.43m, leaving teammate Mackenzie Little to settle for silver with a personal best of 64.27m.
In the 10km walk, Quentin Rew was disqualified midway through the race after picking up three penalties. The 38-year-old, who finished fifth in the 20km walk on the Gold Coast, had already been lapped by the leaders when his day was cut short by the officials.
Black Sticks miss bronze
Penalty shootouts have not been kind to the Women's Black Sticks.
After falling short in a shootout against England in the semifinal, it was again their downfall in the bronze medal match as they were beaten 2-1 in the tiebreaker after some late heroics forced the game to that stage.
Read Christopher Reive's full report here.
