Kiwis toss up a test

AUSTRALIA face a genuine battle for basketball gold at the Commonwealth Games with New Zealand posing a “significant’’ threat to the home nation.

The Boomers and Tall Blacks are expected to meet in the men’s basketball gold medal showdown on April 15 on the Gold Coast but will first cross paths in a pool game in Cairns on Saturday night.

Australia starts their campaign against Canada tomorrow night and have been weakened by the late withdrawal of Adelaide star Mitch Creek (Europe) who has been the standout among the NBLbased Boomers in the past year.

The unavailability of Mitch McCarron (Europe) and Matt Hodgson (knee surgery) has further diluted the Australian squad that dominated the FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup qualifiers with a 10-0 record and a for-and-against of plus-271 points.