The New Zealand Silver Ferns have comprehensively defeated the Australia Diamonds 52 - 36 in the final test of the trans-Tasman international series.

With the series already wrapped up by the Australians who had a 3 -1 lead gong into the final game, the Silver Ferns played their best netball of the series to record an emphatic victory on the occasion of Irene Van Dyk`s 100th Test Cap.

 

 It was a typically physical and bruising encounter, this time the Ferns finding the gaps and picking up on wayward Diamonds passes.

 

The Ferns had a goal spree towards the end of the second quarter, with Irene Van Dyk on fire and they moved to a 10 goal lead at the half time break - a gap that proved insurmountable for the Diamonds.

 

The Ferns zone held tight thorough the centre, with the Australians forced into errors as they tried to find the gaps.

 

Coach Norma Plummer said there was no doubt that the Ferns did it for Van Dyk.

 

 "The Ferns came out to redeem themselves and they played fantastic netball. I think they did it for Irene."

 

"We had some bad errors on passing and wasted a lot of ball tonight." "I thought Kim Green made an impact when she came on and Renae Hallinan tried hard all night."

 

Diamonds captain Sharelle McMahon said it was a strange feeling accepting the trophy for the best of five series after losing the final match. She said that the Diamonds had simply been outplayed by the Ferns on the night.

 

"There were times when we put some good netball out there but we were down by a significant margin at half time. After that nothing really worked - sometimes the harder you try the worse things get."

 

Irene Van Dyk was named player of the match and Temepara George was named New Zealand`s player of the series.

 

The match was played before a crowd of 7,000 at Vector Arena in Auckland. Five of the Diamonds player took to the court wearing black armbands in memory of Frank Rosbrook, Chairman of Melbourne Phoenix, whose funeral was today. The five players wearing the armbands are all former Phoenix players.

 

Starting teams

Australia

Susan Pratley

Sharelle McMahon

Lauren Nourse

Natalie Von Bertouch

Renae Hallinan

Julie Corletto

Susan Fuhrmann

 

New Zealand

Irene Van Dyk

Maria Tutaia

Temepara George

Laura Langman

Joline Henry

Casey Williams

Katrina Grant

 

S. Pratley 15/19 83%

S. McMahon 13/17 76%

C. Cox 7/9 78%

N. Medhurst 1/1 100%

 

I. Van Dyk 33/36 92%

M. Tutaia 19/27 70%

 

Quarter by quarter scores

Q1: NZ 11 – Aust 9

Q2: NZ 28 – Aust 18

Q3: NZ 39 - Aust 28

Q4: NZ 52 - Aust 36