Kiwis teach dodgy Diamonds a lesson
CAPTAIN Caitlin Bassett was disappointed, the team were gutted, while Australian coach Lisa Alexander described the Diamonds’ 10point humbling at the hands of New Zealand in netball’s Quad Series as “simply unacceptable’’.
“Do not think for a second we accept this sort of thing from an Australian team,’’ Alexander said after the Diamonds fell to the Silver Ferns yesterday in their heaviest loss since 2015 and their first series defeat in five years.
“Clearly our preparation is not enough so we need to do more, much more. I am quite surprised we kept them to 57. It could have been more.’’
Slick, fast, and tenacious are traditional qualities of the Diamonds but attributes their netball nemesis New Zealand produced in Invercargill.
The bitter loss cost the Diamonds their Quad Series crown and ended their bid to navigate the 2017 international calendar undefeated.
“It is hard to take. There were just too many errors on our behalf,’’ Bassett said.
Alexander’s plan was always to use the series to blood players – Emily Mannix made her debut yesterday – and test new combinations before next year’s Commonwealth Games.
But it was also her intention to defend the title the Diamonds last won earlier this year in England.
Instead Australia copped a pasting in the penalty count, made many basic errors and never held any advantage.
“It wasn’t our worst game but it wasn’t good,’’ Alexander said.
The Kiwis showed that being barred from playing in the Australian-based Super Netball competition by their own officials has not worked against them as they schooled the Australians.
The Diamonds were stunned by the intensity of the hosts and trailed 18-10, 31-24 and 44-33 at the breaks.
At halftime, Australia had incurred 10 more penalties than the Kiwis and had spent 20 per cent less time in possession – an almost unheard of statistic for the Diamonds.
At game end they had incurred a whopping 85 penalties to New Zealand’s 64.
Earlier yesterday, South Africa produced another upset with their 54-51 victory over England in their final outing of the Quad Series.