By BOB PEARCE
Stacey Tate's meteoric rise in the game will be tested when she leads North Harbour in their defence of the national interprovincial title at Invercargill next week.
When Harbour beat Wellington 3-2 in the final at New Plymouth last year, the 18-year-old from the Huapai Club played at
No 5.
This time at Otatara she will be at No 1 in the form that has earned her national representation in the Commonwealth tournament at Remuera next month.
Tate replaces Anita Boon, who is in Europe recovering from a golf course accident, with Annece Choi coming in at No 5 to make Harbour one of the youngest teams in an increasingly youth-oriented sport.
More than a third of the field are teenagers - the youngest at 12 is Northland's Haeji Kang. The average age of the 14 provincial teams is 29, and the average of the metropolitan teams is just 22.
In contrast, Southland, who have never won the title, will be led by the ageless former international Robyn Boniface, who recently won her 23rd club championship.
Some familiar names will be absent. Bay of Plenty will miss Tina Howard, who is taking a break with an eye on the professional ranks, and Jan Storey is only reserve this year for the young Waikato-King Country team after years of distinguished play at the top of the order.
The Bay will also be without Penny Newbrook, representing New Zealand at The Spirit International in the United States. They have some new young faces, including BoBae Kim, 16, the North Island age group and Una Wickham winner, who comes in for the first time at No 1.
Wellington have only two players back from the team who lost last year's final, with 18-year-old Sarah Nicholson, a new Commonwealth Tournament representative, jumping to No 1 ahead of Amy Smith, of Masterton.
Auckland should perform much better than last year when they were seventh. Jessica Park will be at No 1 ahead of New Zealand representative Enu Chung, with a third teenager, Natasha Krishna, at No 4. There will be vast experience available from Brigit Holford and La Nahi.
Round-robin play starts on Tuesday. The semifinals, playoffs and the final will be on Saturday.
