Netball: Concrete surface spells bad news for skipper

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Silver Ferns netball captain Bernice Mene could be forced to miss the first test against South Africa this weekend after the New Zealanders discovered they have to play on concrete at a cycle track.

The New Zealand team, who had asked not to play on the unforgiving surface, had been led to believe the venue in Cape Town would have a rubberised floor cover. But when they turned up to look over the Cape Town Velodrome yesterday, their fear was realised.

"The court has been painted on concrete, that's it," coach Yvonne Willering said. "It's disappointing, but there's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to make adjustments to the team."

Mene, the Ferns' long-serving defender, will figure in those adjustments.

With a degenerative knee injury, she has been unable to play matches on concrete, which does not give.

"Bernice could not play a full game on concrete, so it's certainly something we have to look at," Willering said.

"We will need to have a few different combinations. Recovery will be crucial because we play Australia three days later."

The dearth of wooden floors in South Africa was a factor in New Zealand's decision to cut the tour from six tests to three.

It means the Ferns will face world champions Australia only once, which prompted jeers across the Tasman that the New Zealanders were "running scared."

Willering laughed off suggestions that the Ferns were avoiding the Australians, who thrashed New Zealand by 23 goals last time they met.

"If we had been able to play another test against them on wood, that would have been great," she said.

"But six tests in 10 days - and only two of them on wood - was too much. I guess we're in the situation these days where we have the luxury of playing all our netball on wooden surfaces."

The venue for the second and third tests is a gymnasium with a wooden floor at Pietermaritzburg Girls' High.

This is a tour of new experiences for the Silver Ferns, who have never toured South Africa before.

When the Ferns play the Proteas on Sunday, the crowd will be a distant hum, as the court is in the centre of the covered velodrome, with the fans seated on the other side of the cycle track.

Yesterday, they trained on a lino floor in a hall in the centre of Manyanani, a black township in Cape Town. Today, they have a practice game at a medical school.

The police had to hold out crowds from the hall in Manyanani when the Ferns coached 60 young netballers from the local Khayalitsha area after their training run.

"The kids were amazing - you give them a ball and they make up a game with it. They were so excited," Willering said.

"They had limited English so our players had to communicate through demonstration. It's part of what this tour is about, promoting the game in South Africa."