KEY POINTS:
The Silver Ferns will take the world No 1 ranking and a clean sweep of the international test series if they beat Australia in Brisbane today but Diamonds coach Norma Plummer warns that her team have plenty more to offer.
The Diamonds are young and inexperienced but they
are not by any means a weak side, as some have suggested throughout this New World International Netball Series.
When key players Liz Ellis, Selina Gilsenan and Laura von Bertouch retired after last year's world championship win in Auckland, it left gaps in the green and gold line-up. Then captain Sharelle McMahon and Catherine Cox both withdrew from the series against New Zealand and England with injury - McMahon with an ankle and Cox a knee. That left Australian coach Norma Plummer with a dilemma. Who would shoot?
Sure, there was Susan Pratley with international experience and Natalie Medhurst who was the most accurate shooter of the ANZ Championship, but a quality side needs more depth if they want to keep winning.
Enter Kate Beveridge. The Adelaide Thunderbirds goal shoot is 193cm tall - three centimetres taller than Irene van Dyk. Coming in to the series, Beveridge had never played at the top level. Three caps later and the 23 year-old is Plummer's preferred option.
"Kate's improving every time she gets out there," says Plummer. "She's got great skills and a nice high shot. She's just got to get more experience of the defensive styles of New Zealand and the only way you learn that is by playing against it."
Beveridge wasn't in the original Australian training squad. She got the call when Melbourne Vixens goal shoot, Caitlin Thwaites, withdrew because of university exam commitments.
Plummer says when Beveridge came into the 20-girl squad she was the number five shooter out of six.
"Then after losing Cox and McMahon, we've gone up to our seventh shooter to come in to the team," adds Plummer. But Van Dyk's 94 per cent shooting success under heavy pressure was a key to the Ferns' win, while Beveridge could only manage 68 per cent.
Today's game is the second in the Australian-based series. The Silver Ferns took game one in Melbourne last week, winning 46-41 after turning around a first-quarter eight-point deficit. It was New Zealand's second consecutive win over the Australians, the first at Auckland's Vector Arena in September.
Throughout the series, New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken has played around with key line-up positions, including pushing van Dyk to goal attack and Laura Langman to wing attack. Aitken has also given some a chance to cut their teeth on the international courts, including defender Katrina Grant and introduced midcourt dynamite in the form of Liana Barrett-Chase.
The Ferns have shown they have what it takes to defeat Australia but Aitken knows she needs more. Australia's shooting percentage was poor last week as Plummer rotated shooters, looking for consistency.
In the end, there was only five points separating the arch rivals in a highly physical encounter but the Diamonds put up five more attempts than the Silver Ferns.
The hosts are confident of turning the tables, with stand-in captain Mo'onia Gerrard labelling the Ferns "cocky" in victory and saying her Diamonds lost the last test rather than the Ferns winning it.
Aitken responded by asking the umpires to keep a tighter rein on the Diamonds' rough defence on her key shooter Irene van Dyk in Melbourne - labelled excessive by Aitken.
New Zealand also produced a lot of handling errors and then there's the old adage that the Aussies are rebuilding'.
"We've been more or less forced in to that situation," Plummer admits. "It wasn't designed, it was just the way it turned out, but the kids have done a really good job.
"If you have a look at it we only lost the last game by five and we put up five more attempts. We got plenty of ball and our defence had a good game, we just needed to finish off in the shooting circle. Once we get that right we should be right.
"The problem with New Zealand is they know we've got a lot to come back in. We've got Cox, McMahon and more than likely Laura von Bertouch all to come back. It will be interesting to see how they [New Zealand] handle it then."
It's a warning, but one Aitken doesn't need to worry about today. There's no way Plummer will risk permanently losing either McMahon or Cox through an early comeback and a potentially career-ending injury. Today's game will be New Zealand's last of the year and probably their most important if they want to finish on a positive after what has been a topsy-turvy season.
And with a young and inexperienced Australian side continuing to rebuild, all the pressure is on the Ferns.
