Cardwell in clinical form as England maintain unbeaten start in netball

England, the defending champions, signed off a strong 66-41 victory over Malawi in the second group game of their Commonwealth campaign on Saturday.

The head coach, Jess Thirlby, took full advantage of the opposition’s grit to test her players, once more running out all 12 of her squad to deliver an important win in front of a sold-out NEC Arena.

With two world-class shooters in their attacking end in Joyce Mvula and Australia-based Mwai Kumwenda, and the scalp of New Zealand from Gold Coast 2018, the Malawi Queens were always penned as a threat to the Roses looking to go back-to-back. But from the first whistle to the last England looked mostly comfortable as they got to task defeating the world No 7 side.

Though the opening phases were punctuated by physical clashes as the sides tested each other’s resolve under the post, it was the Roses who took the early initiative.

Goal attack Eleanor Cardwell, whose impressive impact on Friday from the bench saw her awarded with a start, was clinical in the shooting end as 34-year-old wing defence and local Birmingham product Stacey Francis-Bayman was quick to reap the rewards of her defending unit. Their combined effort allowed England to produce a 35-20 lead at half-time.

Those that had called the game to be closer were subsequently vindicated at the start of the second half. Errant elbows and umpire whistles defined a third term where the Malawi Queens surged. Growing into the occasion, they became increasingly disruptive in their quest to try and recover the scoreline. The eight interceptions, three deflections and three unforced errors they drew out of England meant they held the hosts to a quarter-score draw at the conclusion of the 15.

Showing no sign of panic, Thirlby