LIVERPOOL, England — Jamaica dispatched Zimbabwe 77-47 in their Netball World Cup clash at M&S Bank Arena yesterday to confirm their fifth-place play-off match against ninth-ranked Malawi tomorrow.

Winston Nevers, the Sunshine Girls assistant coach, was pleased with the post-to-post win that ensures that the world number two-ranked team will finish no lower than sixth in what has been a disappointing campaign for them.

“I thought they played to the instructions of the coaches in this game. We really want to end with a bang. We really wanted to get some good scores in this game, so we played well,” he told journalists during the mixed zone.

The Marvette Anderson-led technical staff rotated the squad yesterday, allowing all players to feature while having fresh legs for tomorrow’s play-off. But they still had the quality to sail to an easy win.

“The score [was] a fair reflection of how we played, which was really good. They put the energy out, they did not put their heads down, [and] they continued to play as how we wanted them to play in this situation,” Nevers said.

The Sunshine Girls’ dream of their first podium finish since 2007 was shredded when they lost a pivotal clash with South Africa at the end of the first stage of preliminaries last week, and also went down to England to start the second stage of the preliminaries only a day later.

Nevers said there have been marked improvements since then.

“After we lost the matches to South Africa and England, we told them to go back to the discipline on the court. And to go back to the passing, the shooting and the defence and they really went back to it and they have been playing some wonderful netball now,” he explained.

Yesterday, Romelda Aiken came off the bench to lead the Jamaicans, scoring 27 goals from 35 attempts. Goal attack Shanice Beckford had her best of shooting game of the tournament so far, sinking 18 of her 21 attempts.

Goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, who started but was restricted to only 15 minutes, was flawless from 16 shots, while backup goal attack Rebekah Robinson was 16 from 21.

Zimbabwe goal shooter Joice Takaidza was 21 from 26, while her teammate Pauline Jani was successful with all 18 attempts.

Jamaica pounced on the 13th-ranked Zimbabwe from the outset and created a 23-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

And despite starting the squad rotation from the start of the second quarter, the Sunshine Girls tightened the defensive screws, conceding only nine goals during that 15-minute period to grab a comfortable 47-24 half-time lead.

The Sunshine Girls were not as dominant in the third quarter but were still good enough for a 59-38 lead. They recharged their engines for the final period and outscored Zimbabwe 18-9 to cap off an eye-catching outing.

Teams: Zimbabwe — Pauline Jani, Ursula Ndlovu, Ndaizivel Madzikangava, Patricia Mauladi, Claris Kwaramba, Felisitus Kwangwa, Rudo Karume.

Subs: Sharon Bwanali, Sharleen Makusha, Adelaide Muskwe, Perpetua Siyachitema, Joice Takaidza.

Jamaica — Jhaniele Fowler, Shanice Beckford, Nicole Dixon, Adean Thomas, Vangelee Williams, Jodi-Ann Ward, Kadie-Ann Dehaney.

Subs: Romelda Aiken, Stacian Facey, Rebekah Robinson, Shamera Sterling, Khadijah Williams.

Yesterday’s results

Sri Lanka 78, Singapore 57

Samoa 53, Fiji 42

Zimbabwe 47, Jamaica 77

Malawi 55, Uganda 44

Today’s matches

First session

Barbados vs Scotland

Australia vs South Africa

Second session

England vs New Zealand

Northern Ireland vs Trinidad and

Tobago