1.00pm
Silver Ferns shooter Belinda Colling has ruled out being part of the Canterbury netball team for the Smokefree championship in Palmerston North this September.
Canterbury coach Frances Granger said that the Scottish-bound Colling had rung yesterday to confirm that she would be unavailable for the September 20-25 nationals.
"She's heading off overseas
in a couple of weeks and her schedule is too tight for her to come back," Granger told the Press last night.
Colling will be joining partner Charlie Hore, who has a two-year contract with the Borders club.
She had been unsure about the Smokefree champs, when announcing her impending departure for Scotland last Monday night after the final New Zealand test against Australia in Hamilton.
The Canterbury Flames captain has been part of the NPC side for the last three years, including the championship-winning teams of 2001 and 2002.
But coach Granger is likely to have a strong group of Flames national league players in her Canterbury trial at Cowles Stadium on July 25. She believed shooters Jodi Te Huna and Anna Thompson, midcourters Maree Grubb and Cherie Irwin, and defenders Vilimaina Davu, Jo McCaw and Elizabeth (Bessie) Manu would all be available.
- NZPA
