Diamonds eye off Quad
AUSTRALIAN captain Caitlin Bassett says the Diamonds are targeting a Quad series clean sweep after an experimental line- up took down England 50- 46 in the Diamonds’ second last international before the Commonwealth Games.
Australia are in the box seat to claim the Quad series back from New Zealand by beating the Silver Ferns in a Test in South Africa on Sunday after their four- goal victory over England in London yesterday.
Australia, who also beat South Africa by four in their first match, are the only undefeated team in the Quad series after England beat New Zealand in their opener on the weekend.
“It is a selection tour but our plan is to win the Quad series title back from New Zealand,’’ said sharpshooter Bassett, tipped to lead Australia at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Bassett said heading into the Games with the Quad series title would be a confidence booster for the hosts and defending Commonwealth Games champions.
“Something like that does give you confidence. It sends a message to other teams,’’ said Bassett, who netted 30 of her 32 goal attempts against England. Australia stayed strong in the face of a second half comeback from England which saw them come within three goals of victory.
Coach Lisa Alexander made multiple changes to her lineup as she continued her experimenting with combinations and the timing of changes ahead of the Games team selection next month.
“One of the things we talk about is to look to each other and change things up if we need to,” Alexander said.
“When our opposition gets a bit of a run- on, sometimes we need to change things in attack and defence.
“We did that a few times with positional switches.”
The Diamonds shot at 88 per cent against England, nailing 50 of their 57 shots with England shooting at 85 per cent ( 46 out of 54).