Commonwealth Games LIVE: Moloney, Garbin firing as Diamonds lead Roses in netball; O’Callaghan, Harris impress in swim heats

A cool little stat that Kyle Chalmers has brought to our attention online.

Raise the bat, well batted.

That’s now 50 medals across major international meets for Chalmers.

I don’t want to jinx things. But this match was billed as a clash of titans, with Australia and England being of the biggest rivals in the pool.

The game’s been high-pressure and high intensity – at one point Kiera Austin and Jayda Pechova collided and fell to the floor.

The Diamonds are in complete command of this match going into the last term as they have extended their lead to 21 goals.

“The Diamonds have been near flawless this entire game,” Diamonds great Cath Cox said during commentary on Seven.

England got a boost from bringing veteran shooter Eleanor Cardwell into the game late in the term but while she gave them a jolt of energy, the margin only continued to blow out.

If you are on a good thing, stick to it.

That’s the attitude Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich has taken riding her starting seven until half-way into the third quarter when Tilly Garrett replaced Jo Weston at goal defence.

Garrett was stellar yesterday and she’s hit the ground running in this match.

Meanwhile, England’s passing and connections haven’t got any better this term and the Diamonds have added a few goals to their lead.

Diamonds 50-33 with three mins to go in Q3

We’re about to get started in the men’s individual all-around gymnastics final, so let me give you a quick rundown on how it works, and how we got here.

Australia won bronze in the men’s team event two nights ago, but that event is also used as a qualifier for the all-around final today, and all the individual apparatus finals on Monday and Tuesday.

Each nation can have a maximum of two athletes in the all-around final. For Australia, that’s Jesse Moore and Ritam Malik because they had the two highest cumulative scores of the Australian team.

It’s half-time and the Diamonds are leading by 11 goals, but they could face a fiery England in the second half.

Encouraged by “let’s go England” chants in the crowd, the Roses have lifted and have capitalised on some critical turnovers, executing some incredible intercepts.

At one point, England’s Funmi Fadoju quite literally flew across the court to spoil a pass and send the ball back to England to score.

But Australia are holding steady, led by a prolific Kate Moloney in centre.

The Diamonds have a proven starting group and they have played unchanged in this first half, posting a 34-23 lead at the main break.

I can’t tell if England, who are missing a couple of starters for this tournament including Helen Housby, are swinging changes to test some groups against the Aussies or if they are searching for answers to their issues moving the ball.

Rising defender Jayda Pechova has impressed since coming on for the second term with an eye-catching interception but Garbin and Austin in the Aussie goal circle have otherwise reigned supreme while Jamie-Lee Price is playing like she has a point to prove with some savvy defensive plays.

This is such a demanding tournament that you would expect the Diamonds will make some changes in the second half but perhaps Marinkovich will ride her starters today and sit them for much of tomorrow.

Nothing out of the ordinary so far at the pool this morning.

Meg Harris (53.91), Mollie O’Callaghan (54.37) and Shayna Jack (55.28) get through to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m freestyle tonight.

Sam Williamson looked good in his heat of the 50m breaststroke (26.75) to also get through as the second-fastest qualifier behind South Africa’s Michael Houlie (26.53). Dolphins rookie Bailey Lello (28.06) is 14th fastest for the semis.

Bit of a fun fact for our readers back home. Sasha Glasgow (perfect name for this location) is an English-Australian netball player who usually plays for West Coast Fever.

But today she’s playing for England and is fighting hard against our Aussie girls.

The fiery opening quarter was an arm-wrestle, with both displaying more physicality and pressure than their previous matches.

The Diamonds have earned their 18-11 lead at the first change but the Roses did well to fight back into the contest during the second part of the quarter.

Bringing Lois Pearson into goal attack in place of Sasha Glasgow has given the Roses much more movement in the goal circle.

England’s defence has frustrated the Diamonds at times with the way they clog the middle corridor but Liz Watson and Kate Moloney have patiently waited for chances to lob the ball high to Garbin or shift sides.

My favourite play of the term was Moloney setting a perfectly timed body screen outside the circle allowing Garbin to dive unmarked to the hoop, where she scored.

The contest between Courtney Bruce and Olivia Tchine remains a little niggly and very physical. It’s a must-watch, like this match.