Commonwealth Games: Improved England beat Malawi in netball as Australia beat Scotland

Defending champions England claimed a second Commonwealth Games netball win in two days, beating Malawi 66-41.

Overall, it was an improved showing in front of another joyful NEC crowd.

Scotland put in a gutsy performance in an 83-30 defeat by top seeds Australia.

England’s Cardwell was making her first Commonwealth Games start, taking the goal attack bib from 2018 hero Housby.

The 27-year-old has surely put herself forward for a permanent starting spot, with the third quarter drawn 13-13 with Cardwell off the court.

That third-quarter goal rush delighted the handful of enthusiastic and tuneful Malawi fans in the crowd, but they were ultimately drowned out by the partisan home fans as England regained their clinical edge in a strong finish.

England’s Jade Clarke said: “I think we are definitely building. We knew Malawi was going to be a really tough game, they’ve got world class players like Joyce Mvula.

“We played them a couple of weeks ago in South Africa, so we’ve made some improvements since then.

“It’s a long journey, day two, and we are pleased with the progress and pleased we’ve had some real good challenges.”

Having already beaten Trinidad and Tobago, England’s next group game is against Northern Ireland on Monday as they seek a top-two finish in group B to reach the semi-finals.

Australia also looked solid as they put in a fluid performance to claim a second group-game victory but it was a respectable scoreline for the Thistles against one of the gold-medal favourites.

Jamaica held off a final quarter resurgence from South Africa to win 68-49 and put themselves in a strong position to secure a semi-final spot from Pool A.

Later, world champions New Zealand were pushed by a solid Uganda but held out to win 53-40 and make it two victories from two.