Netball: England ease into play-off

England booked their place in tomorrow's third-place play-off against New Zealand at the World Championships in Birmingham with a 60-35 victory over Trinidad and yesterday. Australia and South Africa had comfortable victories over Canada and Antigua respectively and will meet in Saturday's final.

If England's victory seemed comfortable, it did not start that way as the team slipped 9-3 behind in the opening minutes. Under insistent driving from Kendra Slawinski they turned the shaky start around with a run of nine goals without reply.

Once ahead, their lead was never seriously threatened, and in the second quarter, Trinidad heads fell as the umpiring decisions went against them. At the interval England had a 30-19 lead and throughout the second half they were never troubled.