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Australia's Diamonds have continued their stellar 2022 campaign by clinching the three-match series against England with a 56-48 victory in game two in Sydney.
- Australia have wrapped up their three-match series with England with a game to spare
- Diamonds wing defence Amy Parmenter was named player of the match
- The third game of the series will be played in Brisbane on Thursday
A crowd of 14,117 in Sydney watched Australia lead for most of Sunday's game.
Victorious in January's Quad Series, the Commonwealth Games in August and October's Constellation Cup, the Diamonds wrapped up the series before Thursday's final match in Brisbane.
Wing defence, Amy Parmenter was named player of the match after an industrious display, though Australia had strong players across all lines.
Game one heroine Donnell Wallam was ruled out of Sunday's match with a stomach complaint.
For Australia, Cara Koenen made 29 of 31 attempts and Kiera Austin 22 of 24, with Eleanor Cardwell netting 40 of 45 for England.
The Roses held a one-goal advantage five times in the early minutes, but separate four- and five-goal runs set up a 16-11 quarter-time lead for Australia.
England coach Jess Thirlby made a change for the second quarter, with Layla Guscoth coming on at goal defence for Francesca Williams.
Within six-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter England were level after a 5-0 run.
But again Australia asserted themselves in the closing minutes of the quarter, outscoring the Roses 7-3 to lead 28-24 at half-time.
Thirlby rejigged her midcourt at half-time, bringing on Imogen Allison at wing defence and switching Laura Malcolm from that position to centre in place of Jade Clarke.
Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich made one change at halftime, replacing Jamie-Lee Price at centre with Maddy Proud, player of the match in game two.
However, Proud was accidentally struck in the head by the elbow of teammate Austin and was replaced by Price with little more than a minute of the quarter to go.
Thirlby made more changes during the third quarter, replacing captain and wing attack Natalie Metcalfe with Hannah Joseph and bringing veteran defender Geva Mentor on for Funmi Fadoju at goalkeeper.
England got within two in the third quarter, but yet another unanswered five-goal burst from the home team set up a 42-34 buffer going into the final period.
Clarke and Williams returned to the court for the final quarter but England couldn't get the deficit below five.
AAP