England's Bill Alexander and Scotland's Carolene Logan will take on one of netball's most challenging jobs tomorrow night when they officiate the slugfest between the Silver Ferns and Australia.
The international rules state that neutral umpires are to be used in tests, the problem being that the best umpires in the
game are generally from New Zealand and Australia so when the two nations square off they often struggle with their assigned umpires.
Both teams have met Alexander, Logan and reserve Jamaican Chris Campbell. Alexander achieved his international status in 1992 and has umpired a number of Silver Ferns games.
Logan has umpired at three world championships and is a member of Scotland's umpiring board.
Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken had no complaints with the trio, saying from her point of view it was simply "business as usual".
Australian coach Norma Plummer, who voiced concerns about the performance of England's Beryl Lewis-Turner and Trinidad and Tobago's Ann-Marie Dickson in the June test, said there was a lot of whistle during her team's session.
"They have their ways of approaching the game, there was certainly more whistle there last night," she said.
"But it was all the way down the court, not concentrated in one area.
"Like any time, what we want to see is advantage being played for the attacking team."
After the June test the Australian camp wanted more experienced umpires to deal with the level of physicality.
"They [the umpires] say it is up to the coaches and the players [to control the physicality] but they do have the whistle," said Plummer.
