The imposing Ferns netted an impressive 13 of their 55 goals from outside the two-and-a-half-metre mark, while the Girls took all their shots from the inside.
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Hosts and reigning champions Australia bounced back from their shock defeat at the hands of New Zealand with a 51-41 victory over England as the second phase of the Netball World Cup at the Allphones Arena on the Olympic Park in Sydney got underway.
Jamaicans matched their opponents for most of the third quarter before wilting under stifling mid-court defence pressure from New Zealand.
The early signs weren’t promising as Jamaica closed to within a goal.
The most successful country in World Cup history made it 10 in 2011 with a dramatic extra-time win against New Zealand.
The one-time Silver Ferns midcourter was happy enough with Scotland’s win over Barbados, but says they’ll have to lift on Wednesday against Sri Lanka before tackling Thursday’s must-win match with world No. 7 Fiji.
Romelda Aiken … had an outstanding game.
Whatever was said by coaches Jill McIntosh and Minneth Reynolds worked, with Jamaica immediately finding their rhythm to close it back up to 14-11 at the first break.
By the end of the quarter the Silver Ferns were back up 40-37 and it appeared that things had moved decisively in their favour for the final time.
Before the tournament The Guardian identified England as “Australia’s greatest threat” and claimed they “present a better side on paper than the Kiwis”. They’re more inclined to give offensive penalties as we saw with Mes, and while some of them seem very hard to fathom, happen they will. Mes adjusted in the second half, but the mere fact a shooter can be called for not staying completely upright while trying to get into rebounding position makes it a bit of a lottery.
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Behind accurate shooting from Aiken and Shanice Beckford who scored seven from nine overall, Jamaica then out-scored New Zealand 5-2 at the start of the second quarter, to tie at 16-16 after 3:30 minutes.
