Australia vs England: Roses’ Liv Tchine targets win over Diamonds with netball series on the line

Liv Tchine wants England to make beating Australia a regular occurrence after the Roses set up a series-decider on Wednesday.

Jess Thirlby’s side secured their first win over the Diamonds on Australian soil since beating them in the gold-medal match at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a 61-59 triumph in Sydney on Sunday.

That levelled the three-match series at 1-1 going into Wednesday’s showdown at Bendigo Stadium, live on Sky Sports, and England goal shooter Tchine is confident the tourists can show it was not a one-off.

“We’ve proven we can do this,” Tchine, who made her first start against Australia on Sunday, told Sky Sports News. “It’s not the first time that we’ve beaten Australia, it’s just trying to make it the norm.

“We just need to go out there with the right mindset, have each other’s backs and I don’t see why we can’t come out with the win.

“I’ve been waiting to play against Australia for such a long time. To be able to come out on court and play against the world’s best, and just get that experience, I’ve been enjoying it.”

Tchine’s 32 goals with a 94-percent shooting accuracy played a big part in what was only the third win for England away to Australia in their history.

Head coach Thirlby was particularly pleased that her team were able to come up with such a statement win despite a relative lack of experience in facing the reigning world champions in the group.

But the former England goal or wing attack knows there is still one more part of the job to finish off as the tourists seek a historic series victory in Wednesday’s winner-takes-all encounter.

“If you look at this group, they’re evolving,” Thirlby said. “We’ve got debutants here; we’ve got players who have never played Australia before.

“To have found a way to win this early in this team’s evolution is significant and it’s important we acknowledge that and build confidence, but we’re also part of a three-game series and we’re not done yet.

“We wanted to come here to both win the series and beat Australia on home soil. We’ve ticked one box and done it very well, but both teams do great homework and I’m just glad some of ours paid off.”

Watch the Vitality Roses’ tour of Australia and New Zealand live on Sky Sports. The next match is live on Wednesday from 9.30am BST on Sky Sports Mix and – for free – on the Sky Sports YouTube channel. Stream netball and more sport with NOW.