AUCKLAND, New Zealand,  (CMC) – Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls had a poor day at the office, losing their semi-final and the subsequent playoff to finish fourth at the Fast5 Netball World Series here yesterday.

The championship, staged at Vector Arena, was won by hosts New Zealand who beat England 23-21 in a low-scoring final.
Pitted against New Zealand in the first semi-final, the Sunshine Girls went down 18-52 in what proved to be a lopsided affair.
Jamaica were never really in the contest, trailing 6-14 after the first quarter and 11-24 at the half. The second half was a blow out as the Silver Ferns outscored the Caribbean lasses 20-5 in the third quarter and 8-2 in the final quarter.
For Jamaica, goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler scored 10 goals from 16 attempts while goal attack Maria Tutaia led New Zealand with 10 from 14.
In the other semi-final, England hammered South Africa 39-15 to book their spot in the final alongside New Zealand.
Jamaica fared little better in the third place playoff, however, as they went down 38-34 despite staging somewhat of a comeback in the last quarter.
They led at the end of the first quarter 11-4 but were hammered in the second quarter, 22-5, to trail 16-26 at the half-time interval.
In the third quarter, the Sunshine Girls bounced back strongly to outscore the Proteas 10-6 and pull within six at 26-32 at the start of the last quarter. However, despite another strong performance, they found themselves just short in the end.
Fowler against led the Jamaicans with 18 from 24 attempts while fellow goal shoot Chrisna Bootha scored 13 from 21 for the South Africans.
Malawi, meanwhile, defeated Australia 33-30 in the fifth place playoff.
Fast5 netball is an innovative form of the game played among the world’s top six sides, with each quarter lasting just six minutes.