Netball: Cox primed for return

SYDNEY - New Zealand-born shooter Catherine Cox heard a snap, felt the pain, saw her foot lying the wrong way and presumed the worse: that she had broken her ankle, midway through the national netball league and 10 days from the three-match international series against the world champion Silver Ferns.

"I just thought it was broken straightaway. I heard a crack but it was my tape ripping clean apart."

Scans and x-rays showed her ankle, injured during the Sydney Swifts' first loss of the season, to the Adelaide Thunderbirds last week, was not broken, but had a ruptured ligament.

While her leg is now "busted and fat", Cox thinks she could be ready by the first test against New Zealand in Christchurch on Wednesday although it is more likely she could be on court for Friday's second international in Palmerston North.

"The best scenario is I will fly over maybe on Tuesday," she said.

Until then, Adelaide Thunderbirds shooter Kristen Heinrich will deputise for her and sit on the bench behind established shooters Sharelle McMahon and Cynna Neale.

Australia has a new captain (Liz Ellis) and coach (Norma Plummer) since it last met the Silver Ferns, when losing the world championship final in Jamaica last year.

Considering they also have a young midcourt with Melbourne Phoenix's Susan Meaney and the Perth Orioles' Jessica Shynn included, Cox admitted the New Zealanders shaped as quite a challenge.

"I don't expect to thrash them by any means," Cox said.

"It'll be our first real test as a national team and Irene's (shooter Irene Van Dyk) still there."

- NZPA