Big win for netballers

There was a time when a match with Trinidad and Tobago was one of the ultimate challenges for the New Zealand netballers, but not so these days.

Trinidad and Tobago shared the world title in 1979 and beat Australia to be runners-up to New Zealand in 1987.

But they are no longer a netball powerhouse and coach Noeline Taurua’s New Zealand side was untroubled to beat them 80-24 for their fourth straight win at Birmingham.

Taurua was again able to give all 12 members of her squad serious game time.

New Zealand led 43-11 at halftime and deserved credit for holding their focus and continuing to play good netball.

“It was good being able to play some different combinations,” Taurua said. “To be honest, the growth in some of these players recently has been amazing.

“I admire them for being able to keep grinding away and doing everything right, even when it was clear by halftime we were going to win.”

A big focus for Taurua is ball retention and the message has obviously got through.

Several players mentioned that facet afterwards and Taurua said she was pleased to see players really scrambling for “every little bit of ball” and then making not putting pressure on the player receiving the next pass.

New Zealand’s next match is against defending Games champions England. “We’re getting to the business end now and we’re as prepared as we can be.”

One thing that will have pleased Taurua again as she looks at the bigger challenges ahead was her team’s shooting accuracy. Like all coaches, Taurua loves to see her shooters achieving a success rate of above 90 percent.

Against Trinidad and Tobago, Grace Nweke managed 37 from 39, Te Paea Selby-Rickit had 19 from 22, Bailey Mes was eight from 10 and Maia Wilson never missed one of her 18 shots.

Given that the Trinidadian defenders were tall and sometimes awkward, they were impressive stats.