New Zealand's remarkable run of dominance in netball's Fast5 World Series has come to end as the Kiwi side failed to make the final of the event for the first time.
The Fast5 Ferns finished in fourth after a disappointing tournament, where they won just two of their six matches.After dropping two games on the opening day of the Melbourne tournament, the Ferns came into today needing to win both their matches and rely other results to go their way if they were to get a chance to defend the title they have held for the past four years.
Their hopes were dashed by Jamaica in their first match-up of the day as the Sunshine Girls pulled off a 30-23 win.
The Ferns were let down by a unproductive powerplay quarter, in which they could only manage four points. All four shooters - Ameliaranne Ekenasio, Jamie Hume, Monica Falkner and Maia Wilson - struggled with their accuracy, with Hume having a particularly horror match, netting just three of her 14 shots at goal.
With their title hopes dashed, the Ferns then only just managed to scrape into the 3rd/4th play-off after edging Malawi 29-27 in a thriller. However, they were no match for Australia in the bronze medal match, with their poor powerplay again consigning the Ferns to a thrashing.
Australia triumphed 34-15, after banking 18 points from their powerplay, compared to New Zealnd's measly four. As was the case all tournament, only Ekenasio provided any significant offensive production, scoring nine of the Ferns' points as they slumped to their lowest World Series finish.
Since the shortened format of the game was introduced to international netball, New Zealand have won six of the seven tournaments, including the past four.
After a disappointing season for the Silver Ferns the Fast5 Ferns were out to restore some pride in New Zealand netball over the weekend, but without the services of long-bomb queen Maria Tutaia, who almost single handedly destroyed Australia in last year's final with her three-point shooting, the Kiwis are not as potent.
The gold medal match will be played out between England and Jamaica. The Sunshine Girls go into the title decider as favourites after going through the tournament unbeaten and toppling England 47-38 in the final pool-play match-up.
