Diamonds deny Silver Ferns the sweep, and New Zealand's world No 1 claim is now in doubt

Australia beat the Silver Ferns 68-58 at John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Wednesday night. New Zealand still keep the Constellation Cup 3-1, but the loss ended their bid for a 4-0 sweep that they say would have made them the outright world No 1.

A sell-out crowd of 9,471 watched New Zealand lead 15-14 at quarter-time and 32-31 at half-time before Australia took over, leading 51-45 at the last change and winning the second half 37-26.

Match statistics are from ABC.

The win keeps Australia unbeaten against New Zealand in Melbourne since 2015.

New Zealand had won the first three Tests 56-50, 62-50 and 52-49. A fourth win would have put them top of the world rankings for the first time since 2013, 1News reported before the game.

Who is No 1?

New Zealand say they are now level with Australia. Captain Karin Burger told the NZ Herald: "We still won the cup, and according to statistics, we're actually equal first."

ABC quoted coach Noeline Taurua after the game: "As I understand when we came in, we needed to win 4-0 to be number one outright, three [wins] we'd be drawn and anything less, we'd be in the same position."

Taurua told the Herald: "I sussed that out like six weeks ago when the last ranking came out. So, unless someone's given me a porky, I'm holding on to dear life for that."

Not everyone agrees. Host broadcaster Fox Netball said Australia had done enough to keep the No 1 ranking. ABC said it wasn't sure that was right, and that the question won't be settled until World Netball's next update on 1 December. The Herald reported that World Netball has not publicly confirmed New Zealand's reading.

How it slipped

Taurua made 19 changes during the game. Australia played the same seven for all 60 minutes.

Australia were without Jamie-Lee Price (calf) and Tilly Garrett (concussion), NZ Sportswire reported. Kate Moloney, who dislocated a finger early in the third Test, came back to start.

Taurua had also changed the starting seven. Peta Toeava started at wing attack in place of Kimiora Poi, and Te Paea Selby-Rickit made her first start of the series at goal attack, according to NZ Sportswire. Parris Mason later replaced Burger at goal defence for her first minutes of the series.

Australia's key move was playing Georgie Horjus at goal attack. She scored 26 goals at 93% with 20 goal assists and was player of the match. Captain Liz Watson finished with 50 feeds.

Taurua told the Herald that the Horjus switch had "given another thing for us to look at and prepare in regards to whether it's strategy or systems."

The Herald said errors and impatience hurt New Zealand in the second half, as fatigue set in after three hard Tests and a long stretch away from home. Taurua told Fox Netball: "We looked a bit weary, we looked a bit tired, I could feel it slipping away from us and we did try to hold on there... It's a bummer that we've lost this game, but the fire is still burning."

Burger told the Herald she felt "slight disappointment that we couldn't do what we initially set out to do".

Nweke takes the medal

Grace Nweke won the first Plummer-Aitken Medal as player of the series. She scored 172 goals from 183 attempts across the four Tests, or 94%, and averaged 55 minutes a game.

The Herald named goal keep Kelly Jackson and midcourter Maddy Gordon as the other main contenders for the medal.

What's next

The Ferns play three Tests against the New Zealand men's team in Hamilton on 17, 19 and 21 November. Taurua told the Herald the series will test the depth of the squad and give some of the team's core players a rest. The next big target is the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney.