England were knocked out of the Netball World Cup after a tense and tight 47-45 defeat against New Zealand at the M&S Bank Arena.
The hosts suffered an early scare in their semi-final as Maria Folau gave New Zealand a 5-0 lead inside the first four minutes.
Folau, who had been booed during the pre-game introductions after recently defending her husband Israel’s controversial religious beliefs, scored four from four to get the Silver Ferns off to a flying start.
After showing some nerves in front of goal, England recovered to haul back the deficit but still faced a big task as they trailed 12-9 at the end of the first.
Nerves continued to be in evident for England who slipped six points behind midway through the second quarter, prompting coach Tracey Neville to make changes.
Neville switched the respective roles of Housby and the misfiring Harten, and introduced Natalie Haythornthwaite in place of Chelsea Pitman.
The move made a dramatic difference as Housby hauled England level before Harten belatedly rediscovered her form to shoot her team 24-21 in front with a quick-fire triple before the break.
England struggled to sustain their momentum, with the accuracy of Folau and Amelianne Ekenasio dragging New Zealand back level in a match which showed all the signs of going down to the wire.
Looking more composed, the Silver Ferns edged two points clear before a rare mistake by England captain Serna Guthrie enabled Ekenasio to stretch New Zealand’s lead to three.
After a quarter they will want to forget, England faced going into the final 15 minutes needing to make up a 36-33 deficit in order to keep their World Cup dream alive.
But despite a determined effort in the final quarter, England could not close the gap and New Zealand were able to hold on to set up a final meeting with Australia.
• Emma John’s report from the will appear here shortly
