Despite outclassing defending champions New Zealand in their top-of-the-table clash in Group G of the Netball World Cup tournament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, Jamaica Assistant Coach Shawn Murdock said they are not getting carried away and taking anything for granted ahead of tomorrow’s semi-final clash with Australia.

The Sunshine Girls, who are one of the favourites to win the title, recorded their first-ever victory over New Zealand at the championships after defeating the Silver Ferns 58-49 on Thursday. The victory was Jamaica’s fifth of the championships as they ended the group stages with maximum 10 points.

Murdock told the Jamaica Observer that the victory over New Zealand has given the team a lot more confidence as they executed well in all four quarters of the match.

“It was a big victory for us,” said Murdock. We have taken a lot of positives from this match, but there were lessons learnt as well because there were patches where we thought we could have done better with the ball in terms of how we recycled the ball,” he said.

“We are looking forward to the Australia game and we are expecting more of a challenge because this is now do-or-die for both teams for that gold medal and we are hungry for it and I know that the girls will be ready to produce another great performance on Saturday,” Murdock said.

The Sunshine Girls were led to victory courtesy of their Captain Jhaniele Fowler who netted a perfect 49 goals from 49 attempts.

Goal-attack Shanice Beckford chipped in with nine goals from 10 attempts, while Romelda Aiken-George added one goal from three attempts for the Sunshine Girls.

The Jamaicans, who are ranked fourth in the world — two places below New Zealand in the world rankings — started the match confidently as they jumped out to a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, despite being outscored 12-11 in the second quarter, the Jamaicans managed to eke a 26-23 lead at half-time.

Fowler, who has been having a superb championships for the Sunshine Girls, netted 23 goals of her team in the first two quarters of the match. Both sides battled neck and neck in the third period as they treated fans to some excellent display of netball. At the end of the quarter, the Sunshine Girls maintained a 41-39 lead despite being outscored 16-15 by New Zealand.

However, the Jamaicans came out blazing in the fourth period, as their defensive unit, led by Shamera Sterling, along with Jodi-Ann Ward and Latanya Wilson, shut down the New Zealand offensive efforts by holding them to just nine goals in the quarter.

The Sunshine Girls’ offensive team led by Fowler netted 18 goals in the final period as they romped home to a comfortable victory.

Murdock underscored that they were very pleased with the team’s execution especially in the fourth quarter when they held their opponents to just nine goals in the quarter.

“The performance in the fourth quarter is something that we are pleased about as a coaching staff because it shows that we are able to sustain for the four quarters and not necessarily dip,” he said.

“New Zealand came back at us often in the game, but we loved the fact that the team was composed enough to stay ahead and keep their heads high because we finished very strongly and that was impressive for us,” Murdock added.

Meanwhile, England and New Zealand will clash in the other semi-final game on Saturday.