Live-Netball Updates: Silver Ferns gegen Australien

All events between the Silver Fern and Australia in the Constellation Cup.

Ms Nolin Taouro has nominated a 14-man squad for the Constellation Cup in four matches against Australia.

The team includes World Cup winner Bailey Mays, who returns to the field after a long break from injury after injuring her knee in the netball Nations Cup in London last year.

Mays said her comeback was coming a long time ago.

“It’s been a very long process to get back on track. I’m back at the completely unfinished races, but I’ll get to it and everything is going well,” Mace told Country Sport Breakfast.

“It was a very minor injury and it took some time to figure out what was happening, which increased the length of time. When I decided to have surgery, we hit the first lock, so just various things delaying the operation.”

Midfielder Maddy Gordon received her second call and could make his debut after not playing when she received the first-team call late last year. Gordon adds to the strong presence in midfield that Taurua was dying to give up.

“Silver Fern and New Zealand netball is full of great midfielders.” She said, “They all have teams, and they’re all in good shape and hard-working.”

It is the first time in more than a year since the world’s No. 1 ranked Australian took a test.

“I know Al Masa will be happy to be back on the field after this long hiatus from international netball,” Taurua said. “We are equally happy to have contested all four of the tests against the world’s leading netball team in our court in front of our fans.

“It’s a series like this against our old competitors that really shows the best netball.”

The timing and nature of the series, with the two teams building on the Commonwealth Games and the Netball World Cup, meant that Taurua wanted to pick a larger list of 14 people from which to pick a team of 12 for each game.

The four exams will be held in Christchurch on March 2 and 3, and March 6 and 7.

Silver fern – constellation cup

Protect
Amiliaran Ikenasio
Monica Walkner
Billy Messer
Maya Wilson

The Mediators
Maddy Gordon
Jenna Crampton
Claire Kersten
Kimura Boy
Shannon Saunders
Whitney Souness
Samantha Wenders

Cannons
Karen Burger
Fitzpatrick Solo
Jane Watson