Netball ace Helen Housby has lavished praise on England’s outgoing coach Tracey Neville.

The 24-year-old, from Drumleaning, near Wigton, was coached by Neville - the sister of former England footballers Gary and Phil - at Manchester Thunder. And after being handed her first England call-up by Anna Mayes, Neville has since been Housby’s Roses coach for the past four years.

England ended Neville’s reign with a 58-42 win over South Africa to secure their third straight Netball World Cup bronze on Sunday. Housby was in fine form in that success with a perfect record of 29 goals from her 29 attempts.

Despite the final medal colour being the same as it has been since 2011 for England at their home tournament in Liverpool, raucous final moments served to illustrate how far Neville, whose replacement will be confirmed today, has brought her squad and the domestic sport as a whole.

“It was an amazing game for Tracey to go out on," Housby said.

"She has been part of this Vitality Roses team for a couple of years now and she’s just brought so much to the job and she’s been my personal coach for many, many years at England, and at Manchester Thunder.

"I’m going to miss her a lot and, hopefully, she gets back into coaching one day."

Housby, who last year sunk the winning shot that earned England Commonwealth Games gold, has won 66 caps.

She is now returning to Australia, with the Suncorp Super Netball League due to resume, and Housby’s New South Wales Swifts side set to play West Coast Fever tomorrow (6pm start UK time).