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• Fowler yet to miss as West Coast Fever hold off GIANTS 74-73 to go 2-0 in Suncorp Super Netball League

  Jhanielle Fowler was perfect from the field and needed to be as the defending Suncorp Super League Netball Champions West Coast Fever held off GIANTS to win by a single goal 74-73 on Saturday at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

  The Fever’s shooters missed just once with Sasha Glasgow scoring five goals from her six attempts and hit crucial super shots in the thrilling encounter that ended with the defending champions going 2-0 in their first two games of the season. They won both games by one goal.

  Reigning MVP Fowler scored 59 goals from as many attempts and has now scored 167 straight goals without a miss in the league. Her last miss came during the first quarter of last season’s final.

  The GIANTS welcomed back Maddie Hay and Jo Harten into their line-up and they proved to be exactly what their team needed. Still, the Fever led 21-20 at the end of the first quarter.

  On the back of Fowler’s accurate shooting, the Fever opened up a lead, which extended to as wide as 10 goals but were eventually reeled in by the GIANTS, who were eventually outscored 19-17 in the second quarter to lead by three at the half.

  Harten scored 22 goals from 23 attempts and Sophie Dwyer 21 from 24 as GIANTS looked to rally but were forced to depend heavily on super shots to keep them close to the champions who outscored them 23-15 in the third quarter.

  However, the GIANTS did rally with Harten and Dwyer shooting the lights out to outscore The Fever 21-11 in the final quarter but the lead proved too much to overcome.

  Over at the Nissan Arena, Kadie-Ann Dehaney’s Sunshine Coast Lightning defeated Queensland Firebirds 65-55. Meanwhile, a power outage at the SA Netball Stadium resulted in a 25-25 tie between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and the New South Wales Swifts.

  Romelda Aiken-George had scored 15 goals from 19 attempts when the game was called off.

• Australia 3-1 Ecuador: Irvine, Mabil and Kuol lead Socceroos to victory

  Jackson Irvine, Awer Mabil and Garang Kuol fired Australia to a 3-1 victory against Ecuador at the CommBank Stadium on Friday.

  In their first game since the World Cup in Qatar, Australia's preparations for the Asian Cup got off to an ideal start.

  First-half goals from Jackson and Mabil came either side of Felix Torres' equaliser in an action-packed opening period.

  A much quieter second half saw few opportunities before 18-year-old Kuol scored his first senior international goal, ensuring there would be no late fightback from the South American side.

  The hosts took the lead after 13 minutes, Mitchell Duke brilliantly volleying Craig Goodwin's free-kick back across the face of goal to Irvine, who converted into the empty net – though replays showed Duke should have been flagged for offside.

  Ecuador responded quickly to the setback and, having seen Michael Estrada drag a glorious chance wide of the mark, levelled when Torres met Jeremy Sarmiento's cross and guided a header past Mathew Ryan.

  Australia regained the lead in the 32nd minute, with Irvine dispossessing Piero Hincapie on the edge of the area and seeing the ball fall kindly for Mabil, who smashed a fierce strike into the top-right corner.

  Manchester City's Alex Robertson made his debut in the second half, despite having yet to make a senior appearance for the Premier League side, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in featuring for the Socceroos.

  There were few opportunities in the second half, but Moises Ramirez clawed an effort from Kye Rowles off the line, with Goodwin's set-piece delivery again causing problems for the visitors.

  Though Ecuador dominated possession for much of the latter exchanges, the South Americans were unable to create opportunities to test Ryan and the hosts held on to secure victory.

  The win was secured in the 84th minute, with teenage substitute Kuol on hand to poke in Aziz Behich's driven cross.

• Rohit retains faith in 'unfortunate' Suryakumar after golden duck hat-trick

  India captain Rohit Sharma backed Suryakumar Yadav after he suffered a hat-trick of golden ducks in the ODI series loss to Australia.

  A 21-run Australia victory on Wednesday saw the tourists leapfrog India at the top of the 50-over rankings, with the series defeat India's first at home since 2019.

  Suryakumar's display highlighted the hosts woes, facing just three balls over the course of the series without getting his bat to any of them.

  He was trapped lbw by Mitchell Starc both in India's opening win and Australia's dominant subsequent response in the second match.

  There was therefore immense pressure on Suryakumar ahead of the decider in Chennai, and he was bowled by Ashton Agar.

  But the batter retained the support of skipper Rohit.

  "He played only three balls in the series. I don't know how much you can look into it. He got three good balls," Rohit said after the match.

  "Today [Wednesday] I didn't think it was that great a ball. He just chose the wrong shot. He should have, maybe, come forward. He knows best.

  "He plays spin so well, which is why we wanted to hold him back and give him that role of last 15 to 20 overs.

  "But it's really unfortunate that he could only play three balls in the series. That can happen to anyone. The potential, the quality is always there. He's just going through that phase right now."