Netball: Ferns set for showdown

Irene Van Dyk. Photo / Brett Phibbs

It is netball, old-school style. New Zealand and England meet in the pivotal pool play clash of the Commonwealth Games on Thursday - on a concrete court and at 9.30am (5pm NZT).

The court has concrete underlay - rather than the springy surfaces of the professional game - and that and the early start time are a bizarre return to the sport's Saturday morning roots.

While it is an odd piece of scheduling to have the only truly meaningful match of pool play at such a spectator-unfriendly hour, the Silver Ferns have got on with the job of righting their body clocks.

They simulated games at the same time at their Singapore training base and went through the same exhaustive preparations they would before a test so they would know exactly what time they needed to rise - 5.30am, as it happens.

Although New Zealand have five matches in pool play, the England one will determine whether they, almost certainly, face Jamaica in the semifinals, or nemesis Australia.

With England having defeated the Silver Ferns in two of their previous five encounters, and the most recent match last year having gone to extra time before New Zealand prevailed, nothing is being taken for granted.

Another factor that could make the event more of a lottery is nobody is entirely sure how the surface is going to hold up.

Still, most of the concerns about the Thyagaraj Sports Complex have been allayed.

There were dire predictions that the boards would produce an uneven surface but training uncovered no cracking or ridges. It is, however, harder than the players are used to.

New Zealand tomorrow face Papua New Guinea before meeting the Cook Islands on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, she might be the flagbearer for tonight's opening ceremony at the Games but Irene van Dyk doesn't accept that she is the flagbearer for the world's shooters as well.

In fact, she says, she's had to "go back to school" after the emergence of beanpole Australian Susan Fuhrmann made van Dyk change her shooting style.

The West Australian, at 1.96m, has a significant height advantage, a situation almost unprecedented for the Silver Fern.

"It is totally different and all of a sudden I have had to change my approach," admits van Dyk. "I have to step back to clear the space - which is something I have never had to do. I've had to add a little bit more to my repertoire.

"She has had the upper hand a few times this year - which I don't like - but I can't wait to face her again," van Dyk says. "I am going to be ready. I am going to put [my] jumping shoes on and my fighting shoes on - everything all on at once," she laughs.

Van Dyk has chalked up 108 caps for the Silver Ferns. If she plays three tests at the Commonwealth Games, she will break the all-time record held by Lesley Rumball.

Van Dyk also says she is "sick and tired" of hearing about Australian dominance and their supposed edge in mental toughness. The Diamonds win a large majority of the close transtasman tussles but van Dyk disputes it is related to the mental approach of the two teams.

"I don't think Australia has the mental edge," she affirms. "Are they really better and tougher than us? They may win more games than us but is it because they are mentally tough, or because we don't play the right combinations, or they play better combinations?

"I have a real problem with that theory about them being mentally tougher than us and I don't necessarily think it is true."

Meanwhile netball technical officials have threatened to derail the competition, unless demands over uniforms, security and transport are met by midnight tonight.

"We've threatened a whole lot of things, and if we don't get them by midnight the competition won't be starting on Monday," one official said.

The uniforms were "terrible" and inappropriate for western builds, the source told NZPA. Officials could not be made to look foolish, she said. Accommodation was unsuitable and took hours to rearrange, security had prevented officials getting to the venue, and transport had stopped them getting even that far.

"It's getting lost, they just don't know where they're going. We can't have our officials not getting here," the source said. "Unless we get some resolution, all my staff will walk away."

She said she expected the Indian officials would be able to deliver by the deadline. Uniforms had been made, it just seemed no one was quite sure where they were, she said. A delay to the start of the tournament was more likely than a cancellation.

- Additional reporting: Michael Burgess