JAMAICA’S Sunshine Girls will have to settle for a bronze medal duel against England after crashing out at the semi-final stage of the netball competition at the 19th Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India yesterday.

The number four-ranked Sunshine Girls lost 59-43 to the number two-ranked New Zealand in the second of two semi-final matches at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex.

In the first game, world champions Australia swept aside England 51-45 to set up a mouthwatering gold medal clash with their Oceana neighbours tomorrow.

Beating the Silver Ferns was always going to be an uphill task for the Sunshine Girls, especially since they had only managed to do so in two of their previous 46 meetings — the Silver Ferns winning 42 and the other two ending in stalemates.

This defeat also means the Jamaicans have been knocked out of their last six major semi-final games by New Zealand, dating back to the 1999 World Netball Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand.

But with a more favourable record against the English in recent match-ups, coach Connie Francis and her troops must now be fancying their chances of coming away with the bronze medal when the two meet in the curtain-raiser to the final.

In the semis, the Jamaicans matched New Zealand point for point in the early exchanges, with ace shooters Romelda Aiken (14 from 14) and Simone Forbes (three from three) firing at 100 per cent in the first quarter to leave the scores level at 17-17 going into the first break.

But like they have been doing against top-ranked opponents at the Games, Jamaica turned in an inconsistent performance thereafter.

Their scoring average fell by some 17 per cent (83 per cent) — Aiken missing four of her 11 attempts in the second quarter — as they went into the

half trailing the defending champions by seven points (25-32) and could find no way back after the restart, despite narrowing the gap to four points at one stage.

Aiken led the Jamaican shooters with 36 goals from 44 attempts, while South African-born Silver Ferns veteran Irene van Dyk shot a perfect 32 and Maria Tutaia assisted with 27 from 36.

Jamaica — Romelda Aiken (GS) (Jhaniele Fowler), Simone Forbes (GA), Nadine Bryan (WA), Paula Thompson (C), Sasha-Gaye Henry (WD) (Georgia Gordon), Althea Byfield (GK), Kasey Evering (GD) (Nicole Aiken).

Subs not used: Anna-Kay Griffiths, Kimone Tulloch.