Another to come out of a strong Canterbury provincial team, 17-year-old shooter Azalea Sinclair was the baby of the Silver Ferns team to play the first Test of the 1948 series against Australia in Dunedin.

At just 1.68m, she was very small for the role of ‘main goalie’ (goal shoot) as it was known in the day.

The previous year, she had caused heated speculation as to whether, as a 16-year-old, she was old enough to play in a senior provincial tournament. However, her form from that tournament proved good enough to see her selected in the follow-up Silver Ferns team.

Because the 1948 team was selected on a regional basis, Sinclair was one of several who played just the one Test in their careers with the next team not being selected until 1960.