Johannesburg, South Africa – Australia has dominated world netball for more than fifty years, and looks set to continue its domination as the world’s netball powerhouse.
The Australian Diamonds have won 11 of the 15 World tournaments held so far, and where they did not win, they came second to their antipodean neighbours, New Zealand. In the 1979 tournament, they shared the title with New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago, because the three teams finished the round robin with the same number of points. There was no final, and no way to determine which team was the winner.
With a record like that, it is not surprising that Australia has won all 39 encounters against South Africa. The teams have not always met at the World Cup, but Australia prevailed every time they did meet. South Africa’s best performance against the Australians came in Perth in 1967, when Australia won by 35 goals to 29 – the smallest margin of the five World Cup encounters.
In Eastbourne, England, in the opening World Cup, Australia beat South Africa 67-28.
The most high-profile match between the two sides was in 1995, when South Africa reached the World Cup, beating New Zealand and England on their way to the final. Although South Africa came away with the silver medal, Australia beat them comprehensively by 68 goals to 48.
In Kingston, Jamaica, in 2003, the Diamonds beat the SPAR Proteas 64-37 and in their last World Cup meeting, in Sydney in 2015, Australia won 66-31.
Although South Africa has never beaten Australia, the SPAR Proteas have been working hard to narrow the gap. The two teams are part of the Quad Series, in which four of the top five teams in the world come together on a regular basis.Two of SPAR Proteas best results against Australia came in Quad series matches – in 2017, the Diamonds beat the Proteas by six goals, with the final score 58-52 in Canberra.
The following year, in a Quad Series match in London, Australia won by 54 goals to 50, giving the SPAR Proteas their best result against the Diamonds.
However, in other matches played in 2018, Australia won 61-44 in a Quad Series match in Auckland, New Zealand, and 60-38 in a Commonwealth Games match on the Gold Coast. In their last Quad Series match, in Liverpool in January, Australia won by 62 goals to 45.
South Africa and Australia are in different groups at the World Cup and will not meet until the play-off stages.
