Smooth start to this campaign for Silver Ferns
It can be hard to keep track of everything happening at the Commonwealth Games. Hayden Meikle looks at how a few of the other New Zealanders are faring.
Netball
The Silver Ferns started their redemption campaign with wins over Northern Ireland (7920) and Uganda (5340).
No, nothing to get too excited about, but at least we are not digesting some sort of catastrophic loss.
In their pool B opener, the Silver Ferns led Northern Ireland 184 after the first quarter, 3311 at halftime, and 5716 at the threequarter mark.
Coach Noeline Taurua gave all 12 members of the squad at least half a game, meaning there was a full test debut for Southern Steel midcourter Kate Heffernan, the St Hilda’s old girl following mother Annette into the black dress.
Grace Nweke (29/31), Te Paea SelbyRickit (25/27) and Maia Wilson (20 from 22) all shot smartly for the Silver Ferns, but Bailey Mes — still, bewilderingly, seen by Taurua as a shooting option in international netball despite all evidence to the contrary — missed eight of her 13 attempts.
The New Zealanders then got a much stiffer workout before beating Uganda 5340.
The Silver Ferns led just 1411 at the first break, and while they nudged ahead 3118 at halftime, they had a shocking third quarter in which they scored just eight goals.
Uganda — known as the She Cranes, which is an objectively good nickname — battled away but eventually the Silver Ferns showed their class.
Heffernan got another 30 minutes on court, and Steel teammate Shannon Saunders played 22 minutes.
The Silver Ferns play Malawi, their Gold Coast 2018 nemesis, tomorrow at 7am.
Hockey
The Black Sticks men opened their bid for glory with a draw against Scotland that can either be termed concerning or inspiring.
Scotland shocked the Kiwis by racing to a 40 lead inside 24 minutes.
Otago’s Kane Russell got the sleepy Black Sticks on the board from a penalty corner, but when Scotland scored a fifth goal, it looked like curtains for the 2018 silver medallists.
In the space of eight frenzied minutes, that all changed.
The Black Sticks rattled on four quick goals, including one to Otago veteran Hugo Inglis, and while they created several opportunities to grab a winner in the dying minutes, they were forced to settle for a draw.
The men were playing Pakistan last night.
On the women’s side of the competition, New Zealand had to deal with its own fright from the Scots.
The Black Sticks women, seeking to win backtoback gold medals, pipped Scotland 10 to set up a juicy clash with Australia tomorrow night.
New Zealand, ranked eighth in the world, controlled possession against the Scots, ranked 17th, after Rose Tynan scored from a deflected penalty corner in the first quarter, but had to survive some anxious moments late in the game thanks to a lack of clinical finishing.
The Black Sticks thumped Kenya 160 in their opening game. Forward Olivia Shannon grabbed a hattrick, while Stephanie Dickens, Megan Hull, Alia Jaques, Kaitlin Cotter and captain Olivia Merry each scored two goals.
Maniototo farmer Tessa
Jopp has started both games for the Black Sticks. Jopp is one of three St Hilda’s old girls at the Games, joining Heffernan and cricketer Eden Carson.
Triathlon
No medals in the women’s event for New Zealand.
Nicole van der Kaay was the best of the Kiwis in ninth, finishing in 57min 24sec and 2min behind the winner, Bermuda multisport great Flora Duffy.
Andrea Hansen was 18th overall in 59min 54sec. Ainsley Thorpe had to withdraw from the race on the eve of the Games after testing positive for Covid19.
Bowls
Otago bowler Pam Walker has made her Commonwealth Games debut.
Walker (skip) and Lynda Bennett had close losses to England (1210), Scotland (1512) and Australia (198) over the opening two days of competition. They were playing South Africa overnight.
Squash
West Coast star Paul Coll opened his bid for gold with an 114, 112, 114 win over Niall Engerer (Malta) in the men’s singles.
Women’s singles hopeful Joelle King beat Leungo Katse (Botswana) 111, 114, 113.
Weightlifting
She was born in England and lives in Canterbury, but Emma McIntyre will have plenty of interested fans in Dunedin tonight.
McIntyre, who lifts in the women’s 64kg final at 1am, is coached by Callan Helms from Otago Weightlifting.
Basketball
The 3x3 Tall Ferns were unbeaten after day one. They squeezed past England 1514 then beat Canada 2111. Former Otago Goldrush star Jillian Harmon is the joint competition leader in points per game (7.5).
The New Zealand women play the British Virgin Islands at 7.55am today and will guarantee a spot in the semifinals if they win.
The 3x3 Tall Blacks were beaten by England (2110) and Australia (2111). While their inside shooting (69%) has been healthy, their outside shooting (0of16) has been awful.
The New Zealand men play Trinidad & Tobago at 6.30am today. If they win, they will play the secondplaced team from the other pool in the quarterfinals.