T&T's netballers will get another chance at Northern Ireland when the teams meet to compete for ninth spot at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England today from 2.15 pm (TT time).
On July 6, the "Calypso Girls" and the Irish team squared off at the Wales Summer Test Series, a warmup tournament before the start of the world in Cardiff, the match ended in a 49-49 draw.
The Wesley "Pepe" Gomes-coached national team has had a tough run through the tournament. T&T have put in some valiant displays at the World Cup but have only managed to collect one win so far but were able to secure a draw in their final match against Scotland.
Their win over Fiji in their Group C clash meant T&T avoided falling into Group E and whilst they did not manage to pick up any wins in the stage two preliminaries, the draw with Scotland will give them encouragement ahead of their clash with Northern Ireland.
Samantha Wallace has enjoyed a successful tournament so far with 174 goals and another strong showing in this final match for T&T may see her end the competition in the top five goal-scorers.
Today, T&T and Northern Ireland in the final match of the day which has four matches scheduled, including the two semi-finals. England is in action at 10 am against New Zealand, following the first semi-final between Australia and South Africa from 6.15 am. Scotland starts today's matches with the 11th/12th playoff against Barbados at 4 am.
Commonwealth champion England will bid to reach their first final when it takes on New Zealand in the last four. The Roses are unbeaten in their home tournament so far but this will be their toughest test yet.
Four-time winners, the Silver Ferns, have contested the last five finals playing Australia on every occasion. The Aussie Diamonds are the holders and play South Africa in the first semi-final.
The Proteas, ranked fifth in the world, were runners-up in 1995 but had not reached another semi-final before this year's tournament.
In yesterday's action, Malawi reached the fifth/sixth place match set for Sunday after a narrow 55-44 victory over Uganda. The Malawians will take on Jamaica "Sunshine Girls" after its 77-44 victory over Zimbabwe, who will face Uganda for seventh/eighth.
Sri Lanka finished the tournament in 13th place after beating Singapore 78-57 in a high scoring match while Samoa's 53-42 win over Fiji secured them 15th in the early game.