Australia 1 – 3 England

After failing to win both the Ashes and the Netball World Cup final to Australia over the couple of months prior to this fixture, you could’ve been forgiven for assuming that things come in threes. Well, in Sydney, they definitely didn’t. Pitched by the English media to be a relatively cagey affair – what with the Matildas’ growing in stature as the tournament progressed – it was actually pretty much one way traffic. England went in at half time one up thanks to Ella Toone’s venomous rocket into the top corner but aside from Sam Kerr’s 30 yard thunderbastard of an equaliser, the Aussies barely got a chance. Kerr herself had the next best effort for them, scooping over from close range after a corner. Granted, that would’ve made the score 2-2 after Lauren Hemp bamboozled the Oz defence from a long ball, but that would’ve been unlucky for the English, in all fairness. Once Alessia Russo’s shot hit the net, it was all over; England reached a World Cup final for the first time in 47 years. Sacking Phil Neville was a masterstroke, who knew?