Netball Superleague: Manchester Thunder remain unbeaten and book Grand Final place

Manchester Thunder avenged their 2021 semi-final defeat at the hands of Team Bath Netball

Manchester Thunder remain unbeaten this season and a 64-54 victory over Team Bath Netball means they will duel for the Vitality Netball Superleague title in Sunday's Grand Final.

Karen Greig's team will face either Loughborough Lightning or London Pulse in the final match of the season at the Copper Box Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Thunder have won the Superleague title three times previously - in 2012, 2014 and 2019.

The team will take on Loughborough Lightning in Sunday's final, after Lightning prevailed over London Pulse in the second semi-final.

• Vitality Netball Superleague 2022: Fixtures, coverage and results

After finishing the regular season unbeaten and notching up a perfect 60 points, Thunder were able to enjoy the comfort of a home semi-final at Belle Vue.

The Manchester side weren't so lucky with the fitness of defender Shadine van der Merwe though. Instead, the South African international 'ran out of time' to be available after suffering an injury in Round 19.

Emilia Roscoe was handed the goal defence bib and selected to form a defensive partnership with seasoned veteran Kerry Almond.

Thunder's head coach Greig had asked her players to 'draw a line in the sand' following their unbeaten regular season, but admitted that the pressure was on.

Team Bath were tasked by Anna Stembridge to focus on their own output and told to clinically convert their own ball to goal.

In the first quarter, Bath started the faster of the two and created a two-goal advantage doing by exactly what their head coach had asked of them.

Importantly for Thunder, Eleanor Cardwell brought it back to within one in the final seconds before the break.

Laura Malcolm delivered calm leadership for Manchester Thunder (Image credit: Ben Lumley)

At quarter time, Roscoe was substituted off, with Laura Malcolm moving from wing defence to goal defence and Yasmin Roebuck arriving on court.

Team Bath were also forced to make their own personnel change early in the second quarter as Imogen Allison took a heavy fall and Jessica Shaw arrived at centre.

The visitors became slightly unsettled as a result and that was the invitation Thunder needed to turn the screw. The home side capitalised on subsequent handling and breaking errors from Bath and created a 34-29 half-time lead.

The second half commenced with Thunder picking up where they left off by converting a Bath error to goal. Greig decided to stick with the same line-up, while Stembridge shuffled her cards.

Allison, who had returned during the second quarter at wing defence, moved back to centre and Tash Pavelin was restored in defence.

Sophie Drakeford-Lewis highlighted her versatility during the semi-final (Image credit: Ben Lumley)

With their settled line-up Thunder pushed 10 goals ahead in the third quarter, while Bath's discipline let them down.

Throughout the quarter, Bath made further personnel changes, including Sophie Drakeford-Lewis showing her versatility by moving to wing attack and Betsy Creak adding height in the shooting circle.

At the other end, Layla Guscoth did her utmost to provide the ball that Bath needed, but it only resulted in the deficit coming down to eight goals.

The final quarter started with Bath fired up, but a turnover from Cardwell settled Thunder and they remained composed to see the game out.

Watch the second semi-final between Loughborough Lightning against London Pulse, live on Sky Sports Action from 8pm. The Grand Final takes place on Sunday, live on Sky Sports and streamed on YouTube from 3.45pm.