KEY POINTS:
The roses of England bloomed for six days then finally wilted in the heat of the Sunshine Girls.
Despite millions of dollars and four years of preparation, England failed to live up to their own expectations at these world netball championships - the year they predicted the crown would be theirs.
Denied a bronze medal by a single goal after a 12-goal fightback in Saturday night's play-off with Jamaica, the English players filed into the dressing room, their faces stained with tears.
Their coach, former Australian world champion Marg Caldow, had built their confidence up after their first win in 32 years over the Silver Ferns in May, and arrived in New Zealand trumpeting their strengths and deriding the ranking system that had her team seeded fourth.
"I think because of our performances, we'd probably sit at two at the moment, and you'd rank New Zealand three," she said a fortnight ago. But after finding themselves - after two years of fortnightly training camps - still ranked fourth in the world, Caldow changed her tune.
"When we arrived, I think the media blew up a little bit where we were coming from and where we wanted to be. We said we'd performed well through the year and were looking to do well here," she said. "Of course we're disappointed. But you go back and go to the drawing board, don't you."
That won't be Caldow's concern, though. Her contract with England Netball ends in less than a month when she will return to Australia for a "well-earned break".
English vice-captain Karen Atkinson, who has one bronze medal from three world championships, said the team had felt their game had improved dramatically since 2003.
"But unfortunately so have the other three teams. So we're still chasing the top two, and us and Jamaica are still battling for third and fourth. We can only keep on working to bridge that gap," she said.
The Sunshine Girls beamed for hours after their victory - none more so than retiring captain Elaine Davis.
"When we started, we were seen as the worst team because we had been beaten by New Zealand by 44 goals and England beat us by 20 goals this year. So I'm really, really proud," she said, ending her fourth world championship.
Davis leaves the team in "the best hands ever" - especially the huge mitts of her successor, teenage shooter Romelda Aiken.
"Romelda is going to go far. I started at 18 in 1995, and I think she's going to go even further than me. We can't lose her to basketball," said Davis, who will become a netball scout.
Another true veteran of the game, Cook Islander Angela Tangimetua, ended her 16-year international career with two mementos - a ranking of 7th and a chipped tooth from Saturday's one-goal win over Samoa. It was a huge improvement for the Cooks, lifting themselves from 11th under the guidance of former Silver Ferns captain Ana Noovao.
Malawi exceeded expectations to finish fifth, beating South Africa 52-49.
