Third ball returned to New Zealand by England (6)
I believe the answer is:
bronze
'third' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'ball returned to new zealand by england' is the wordplay.
'ball' becomes 'orb' ('orb' can be a synonym of 'ball'**).
'returned' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'to new zealand' becomes 'nz'.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'england' becomes 'e'.
'orb' backwards is 'bro'.
'bro'+'nz'+'e'='BRONZE'
(Other definitions for bronze that I've seen before include "Third-place medal" , "Copper and tin alloy - sculpture" , "Third place medal" , "Third place - alloy" , "Third prize" .)