Giantkilling Silver Ferns take out Quad Series
The Silver Ferns have produced an outstanding turnaround in performance to beat the world champions, the Australian Diamonds, 57-47, and take out the Quad Series for the first time.
Coming off the back of a loss to the English Roses, the Silver Ferns pulled together their most cohesive effort of their three Tests in this series, and kept control throughout the 60 minutes at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill. It also marked the Silver Ferns’ 50th victory over Australia.
After South Africa's SPAR Proteas upset England 54-51 in the opening match in Invercargill, New Zealand were given the task of beating Australia by four to win the Quad Series.
But still, their principle focus was on improvement on court, and continuing to build towards the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Silver Ferns coach Janine Southby took the opportunity to try out a new combination, switching Te Paea Selby-Rickit to goal shoot and Bailey Mes to goal attack – a change which paid dividends and gave New Zealand an exciting new option in the shooting circle. Selby-Rickit succeeded with 35 of her 41 shots on goal, while Mes missed just one of her 18 attempts. New Zealand Under-21s star Maia Wilson didn’t miss with her five shots at the end of the match.
Another young prodigy, Kelly Jury, returned to the side after an ankle injury, and was given the start at goal keep, alongside captain Katrina Grant. An outstanding defensive performance from Jury, rattling the usually cool Australian attack in her first full test in the black dress, saw her rewarded with the Veuve Du Vernay player of the match.
Jury immediately made an impression disrupting Australia’s first shot at goal, and New Zealand scored the first two goals. The Silver Ferns continued to deny the Australians a chance to settle into a rhythm, and added five consecutive goals to take a six-goal lead after five minutes.
Selby-Rickit, playing in front of her home crowd, revelled in the goal shoot role, while the New Zealand midcourt stepped up a notch in intensity, on both attack and defence, from the previous two tests. New Zealand were rewarded with a handsome 18-10 lead at the first turnaround.
Australia returned to the court with a renewed purpose, pouring on defensive pressure to halve the difference to four goals. But the Silver Ferns replied with similar treatment – with Jury using her full 1.92m to confound Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett - and established the upper-hand once again to lead 31-24 at halftime.
In a frenetic third spell, where every player on court was desperate to get their hands to the ball, Grant and Samantha Sinclair led the way in snaffling loose ball. The Silver Ferns then pulled away to an 11-goal advantage going into the final stanza, 44-33.
Phoenix Karaka brought a pair of fresh legs to the wing defence role, and although the Australians made wholesale changes through the court, the Ferns were not about to relinquish control with a victory in sight.
The Silver Ferns will now prepare for their next series, the three-Test Taini Jamison Trophy against the England Roses, which begins in Porirua on Thursday night.