Leading 18-15 and spurred on by the home crowd, the tournament hosts were knocked out of their stride when the lights failed at the National Sports Center in Kingston.

The stoppage allowed the defending champions to regroup - and they came back out to record a 48-43 win.

The third quarter proved to be the decisive session of the game as the Australians scored 14 points to Jamaica's 10.

"It was really tough netball. Jamaica is really a tough defensive unit," said Australian skipper Kathryn Harby-Williams, playing in her farewell tournament.

"We just had to be patient because in the first half we made a lot of errors because of our impatience. Once the light went out we composed ourselves from there."

Jamaican coach Maureen Hall did not want to blame the power stoppage for her team's defeat.

"Obviously when the light went out we had the momentum and we were doing very well," she said.

"But if you are class team you are expected to deal with any and every situation.

"I think when you play at this level sometimes you best effort is not good enough, and today our best effort was not good enough."

South Africa survived a stern test from one-time netball powerhouse Trinidad and Tobago to win 51-49 while Canada's miserable run continued with a 47-30 loss to St Lucia.

Results

St Lucia 47-30 Canada
Northern Ireland 58-25 Hong Kong
Sri Lanka 67-59 Antigua
Wales 49-24 Bermuda
St Vincent 71-24 Cayman
Scotland 53-31 Grenada
South Africa 51-49 Trinidad and Tobago
Samoa 52-45 USA
Australia 48-43 Jamaica
England 67-21 Niue
New Zealand 79-24 Fiji