Wales beat Sri Lanka to progress at World Cup

Wales won three of the quarters by just two points in a closely fought contest with Sri Lanka

Wales beat Sri Lanka 68-56 for their first win of the Netball World Cup to secure a place in the next qualifying round.

In a hard-fought game they led 30-22 at half-time and 50-44 at the third interval.

Wales finish third in Pool C and will now compete with the top three sides from Pool D in the next round.

Welsh Feathers coach Emily Handyside made one starting line-up change from their 75-40 defeat against Jamaica with Clare Jones returning for Shona O'Dwyer at centre as they reverted to the seven who began the opening 61-50 defeat by hosts South.

The first quarter saw an eight minute delay because of illness to one of the Wales players.

Welsh Feathers captain Nia Jones told Sky Sports: "I think it took us a little bit too long to get into the game.

"We spoke beforehand about having to be on our best to beat this Sri Lankan team, they were undoubtedly going to improve as the tournament went along and of course they've got really accurate target shooters in there and we're not the tallest of teams, so we had to be creative with the strategies that we won ball with today.

"I think Ella-Powell Davies coming out with player of the match is so deserved. She gets some crucial turnovers for us and we really built on the momentum of those going into the second half.

"It was a real challenge working out what we could and couldn't contest for today, the umpiring was very different at both ends and different from what we've experienced so far.

"We really had to come off the body totally because we weren't allowed to contest the drive that we would usually contest, which was part of our game plan, so we had to think on our feet because there was disruptions across the game.

"But we prepare for what ifs and we will undoubtedly have to be better than we were today tomorrow against New Zealand, but I've got confidence we can be."

Wales advance to Pool G along with Jamaica and South Africa, while unless Singapore pull off a huge shock against the Silver Ferns in their final group match, New Zealand will qualify along with with Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago.

Wales will play each of the Pool D qualifiers before the final classification rounds.

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Wales confirmed their place at the tournament, qualifying for their first World Cup since 2015, with an unbeaten European qualifying campaign.

Wales squad: Nia Jones (capt), Bethan Dyke (vice-captain), Lucy Howells, Clare Jones, Nansi Kuti, Zoe Matthewman, Shona O'Dwyer, Ella Powell-Davies, Georgia Rowe, Christina Shaw, Sarie Watkins, Phillipa Yarranton.

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