The Kiwi duo looked set for a comfortable victory when up 11-4 after after 10 ends, but the Malaysian pair came storming back with two fantastic ends to take a 12-11 lead.
But Goddard and Inch fought back, taking a 15-12 lead that soon extended to 18-13. Malaysia didn't go away quietly, reducing the deficit to three, but the Kiwis closed it out to conclude New Zealand's lawn bowls campaign with a third bronze.
Silver Ferns smashed
Read more: How 'outstanding' Jamaica smashed Silver Ferns
The Silver Ferns' golden drought at the Commonwealth Games will stretch at least another four years.
The Ferns have been thumped 67-51 by Jamaica in the semifinals in Birmingham, a third straight Games in which they haven't been able to reach their ultimate goal.
While this year's attempt didn't reach the lows of 2018 and defeat to Malawi, the Ferns still could end up with the same result.
A bronze medal match awaits in which the Ferns will be underdogs against either Australia or England, and if they were to finish fourth, like in 2018, there could be no complaints after the Kiwi squad were uncompetitive in their most important matches.
A 10-goal defeat to England in pool play was today followed by their largest defeat to Jamaica in history – and just their sixth all-time, and yet it did not come as a surprise.
By the end of the first quarter the result was already clear, with Jamaica shooting out to a 18-9 on the back of poor errors, with some sloppy passing from the Ferns, and coach Noeline Taurua's changes didn't make much of an impact as the lead stretched to 36-22 by halftime.
When New Zealand's shooters got the ball, they were accurate, hitting 51 of 55 attempts, but Jamaica were overwhelming, not only producing more attempts than the Ferns, but hitting all of them.
Led by Jhaniele Fowler's superb return of 54/54 and a confident display from goal attack Shanice Beckford, Jamaica were much too good, leading by as much as 22 goals as they cruised to victory.
High jumper impresses
Kiwi high jumper Keeley O'Hagan has produced an impressive display in her final at the Commonwealth Games.
O'Hagan came into the event with the 11th-highest personal best of all the jumpers in the competition, but extended her PB by a centimetre to leap 1.89m and finish sixth.
O'Hagan flirted with danger early, only clearing 1.81m on her third and final attempt, but did the same at 1.89m to record a new mark.
Facing 1.92m to stay in the competition and also tie the New Zealand record set by Tania Murray in 1991, O'Hagan couldn't leap to new heights, but the 28-year-old can still walk away proud of her efforts.
Jamaica's Lamara Distin won gold as the only leaper to clear 1.95m.
Also setting a personal best was Sam Tanner in the 1500m final, who flew past his previous record of 3:34.72, running 3:31.34 to finish sixth.
Read more: 'Happiest sixth place ever'
In a rapid race, Tanner settled at the back, but finished strongly to storm past several fading runners. However, he was too far back to contest the medals, with Australia's Ollie Hoare storming home late to stun 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot by 0.09 seconds. Hoare surged past the Kenyan in the final seconds to win in a Games record time of 3:30:12, with current world champion Jake Wightman in third.
Squash stars into final
The Kiwi mixed doubles squash pairing of Paul Coll and Joelle King have cruised into the final at the Commonwealth Games.
Coll and King easily accounted for the Indian duo of Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal, winning 11-7, 11-4.
The overwhelming favourites for gold will play in the final at 6.00am on Monday, against either Australia or England, who meet in the second semifinal.
