England Through To World Quarter-Finals In Hong Kong
British Junior Champion Victoria Lust put the team ahead after winning the opening match. The 18-year-old squad No1 from Maulden in Bedfordshire beat German number one Sina Wall 9-4, 9-2, 9-7.
Rising star Kimberley Hay clinched victory for the squad. The 15-year-old from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was promoted to third string after reaching the individual event's last sixteen, notched up her third successive win for England when she crushed Germany's Steffi Muller 9-2, 9-1, 9-0.
Despite playing a dead rubber, Sarah-Jane Perry battled for almost an hour in an attempt to keep a clean sheet for England. But Germany claimed a consolation point when the 17-year-old from Kenilworth in Warwickshire went down 5-9, 9-5, 8-10, 9-2, 6-9 to Germany's second string Astrid Kern.
England, five-times champions from 1987 to 2001, were originally named as fifth seeds in Hong Kong. But after impressive runs by members of the squad in the earlier World Individual championship, the team were promoted to second seeds.
"I'm really pleased with the way the girls are playing - all of them performed above their seedings in the individual championship and we're feeling good about our chances in the play-offs," said team manager Annette Pilling.
England's opponents in the quarter-finals will be Malaysia, the fifth seeds.
"All of the team have recorded wins over their Malaysian opponents in recent events, so we're confident going into tomorrow's tie," added Pilling.
Victory over Malaysia would take England into the semi-finals, later in the day, against the winners of the quarter-final between third seeds New Zealand and USA, the No8 seeds.
Final qualifying round - Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [7] GERMANY 2-1
Victoria Lust bt Sina Wall 9-4, 9-2, 9-7
Kimberley Hay bt Steffi Muller 9-2, 9-1, 9-0
Sarah-Jane Perry lost to Astrid Kern 5-9, 9-5, 8-10, 9-2, 6-9
Final Pool positions: 1 England (won 4/lost 0), 2 Canada (3/1), 3 Germany (2/2), 4 Japan (1/3), 5 Zimbabwe (0/4)