Netball: Wipiiti only new cap in Silver Ferns

11.00am

Teenage shooting sensation Daneka Wipiiti was the bolter in the Silver Ferns netball team named today for the home series against Barbados later this month.

Wipiiti, 19, is the only new cap in a team where midcourter Anna Rowberry earned a recall after 18 months in the wilderness.

Tourists on the Silver Ferns tour to Jamaica in March and recent regulars in the team Adine Harper, Temepara Clark and Victoria Edward missed selection.

Defenders Linda Vagana (unavailable) and Vilimaina Davu (injured) return to the team after missing the Jamaica trip.

Taranaki's Wipiiti, who moved north to play for the Force this year, pipped Tania Dalton for the fourth shooting spot in what coach Ruth Aitken said had been a very difficult team to pick.

Aitken has spent six months scrutinising the country's top players under a variety of circumstances and believes she has got the right mix. Fourteen players toured Jamaica but Aitken has been forced by international rules to reduce the numbers to 12 for the Barbados series and the Commonwealth Games.

"It was a huge surprise, I wasn't expecting it at all," a surprised Wipiiti told NZPA today.

"Playing with the Force has definitely stepped up my game and just made me improve. I have to fight to get a place on court and the players around me push me so it's been a big step in my career."

Aitken had worked with Wipiiti in the New Zealand A team over the past 18 months and knew what she was capable of.

"I've seen her play against Liz Ellis (Australian goalkeep) which is a pretty good opposition at the best of times and I believe that she is going to be a player of the future," Aitken said.

"But I also believe that where she's at now will do quite nicely for me, thank you.

"Certainly Tanya (Dalton) pushed it (selection) right to the wire -- she had an outstanding (National Bank Cup) final."

Aitken said New Zealand were in a position now where there was real depth of quality at the top tier and New Zealand A players will keep the Silver Ferns honest.

Aitken said Rowberry deserved her recall after spending 18 months on the outer after being dropped for the Silver Ferns tour to South Africa in 2000.

"She adds that real different element to our midcourt -- that power through court," Aitken said.

"She was player of the final in our (New Zealand A) tournament in Newcastle (February) and that was chosen by the Australians. She showed over there she is still up with it internationally and just has that real spirit to push things through."

Rowberry and Jenny-May Coffin added real variety to the midcourt, she added.

Silver Ferns team:

Sheryl Clarke, Jenny-May Coffin, Belinda Colling, Vilimaina Davu, Donna Loffhagen, Lesley Nicol, Anna Rowberry, Julie Seymour (captain), Linda Vagana, Irene van Dyk, Anna Veronese, Danekas Wipiiti.

- NZPA