Silver Ferns close in on Games semi

New Zealand look set to have secured a spot in the Commonwealth Games netball semi-finals after Uganda fell short of a big enough pool play win over Scotland on Wednesday.

Uganda downed Scotland 57-37 in their final match but it wasn't enough to topple New Zealand from second spot in their pool.

A 54-45 loss to England early on Wednesday, and Sunday's 57-53 defeat by Malawi, had left the Silver Ferns' medal hopes in the balance.

The Kiwis had beaten Uganda, Wales and Scotland, and needed other results to go their way to make the semi-finals.

Uganda had needed to beat Scotland by 35-plus to oust New Zealand from second place in the pool on goal average and make the medal play-offs.

Still to play on Wednesday, Malawi must win by the unlikely margin of 70-plus over Wales to edge the Silver Ferns on goal average.

Silver Ferns skipper Katrina Grant earlier said her team had only themselves to blame for the uncertainty.

"We shouldn't have let it get to somebody else deciding how we're going to make the semis," she said.

"But we've done this to ourselves and we just have to deal with it."

New Zealand assistant coach Yvette McCausland-Durie says that, while the team did good defensive work to create turnover ball, they were patchy in the attacking third.

"In parts, it looked like it was going to come right and they looked settled - then the next thing they looked like they were completely lost," McCausland-Durie said.

The Ferns kept pace with England early on, level 12-12 at the first break, but dropped back to trail 26-24 at half-time and 40-34 at the three-quarter mark.

They worked hard in the last quarter, closing the gap to three midway through the spell before falling away in the closing minutes.

English shooters Jo Harten and Helen Housby were clinical in shooting at 86 per cent, sinking 54 from 63.

In contrast, Silver Ferns shooters Maria Folau, Te Paea Selby-Rickit and Bailey Mes could only manage 45 from 62 for a sub-par 73 per cent.

McCausland-Durie said those figures had to improve.

"We need to get that up - it's not good enough, and we're better than that," she said.

They also need stay calm under pressure, Grant added.

"We just didn't treasure the ball enough, then near the end all seven of us made silly errors," she said.

"It's really tough to take."