Netball: Kelly Jury and Sam Sinclair in line for Silver Ferns debut on Quad Series tour

Magic defender Kelly Jury has been named in the Silver Ferns test line-up for the first time. Photo/PHOTOSPORT.

A spate of niggly injuries in the Silver Ferns squad made the New Zealand selectors' job a straight forward one for January's Quad Series.

Silver Ferns coach Janine Southby today announced 12-strong line-up for the tour to South Africa and England, naming two newcomers in Magic youngsters Kelly Jury and Sam Sinclair. The pair's elevation comes just a month after they were selected in the wider squad for the first time.

Sinclair comes into the line-up in place of Laura Langman, who is ineligible for national selection in 2017 after signing for the Sunshine Coast Lightning in the new Australian league. Jury, a 20-year-old defender, meanwhile continued her speedy rise through the netballing ranks, earning her call-up at the expense of Phoenix Karaka and Storm Purvis, who have both been forced to sit out the tour with niggling injuries.

Southby said now is the ideal time to be testing the youngsters on the fringes of the test line-up, but she does not want to be in the same position in year's time.

"Some of our selection decisions were unfortunately helped [by injuries] and we're working really hard to ensure we don't have lots of injuries impacting on these things down the track," she said.

"With a couple of players we just felt it was important to give them the extra time to recover properly so they don't carry these injuries forward and they can give themselves a proper preseason with their franchise teams and be training consistently hard through the ANZ season."

While she accepts some injuries come down to sheer bad luck, Southby believes many incidences of illness and injury that affected her side this season could have been avoided with better preparation.

"The challenges is out there players need to be doing the work through the off-season and the ANZ season to really lift to Silver Ferns standard."

After a series of strong performances from Jury in October's Fast5 World Series, where the Kiwi side claimed their fourth consecutive world title, the selectors are excited to see what the young defender can produce in the international arena.

At 1.92m, Jury will be the tallest defender to don the black dress and Southby hopes the youngster's height will add another element to the Ferns defence.

"What we like about Kelly is she is quite mobile, she has a real presence over shooters and certainly in Fast5 it was quite evident there was a real reluctance from the shooters to put it over her head so we will be working with her to help develop that strength."

The Silver Ferns will start their tour in Durban, South Africa against the Australian Diamonds on January 28. The series will then move to England where the Silver Ferns will face the England Roses in Liverpool, before rounding the series against South Africa in London.

Silver Ferns team for Quad Series:
Katrina Grant - captain
Maria Tutaia - vice-captain
Gina Crampton
Shannon Francois
Anna Harrison
Kelly Jury*
Bailey Mes
Grace Rasmussen
Te Paea Selby-Rickit
Sam Sinclair*
Jane Watson
Maia Wilson