Diamonds in NZ ready for test

Mission Queensland Firebird and Diamond Laura Geitz

MISSION Queensland Firebirds and Diamonds players Laura Geitz, Natalie Medhurst and Lauren Nourse are getting ready for their second test against the Silver Ferns tomorrow night.

Thursday’s match will be the first for the group of 12 Diamonds who will travel to Dehli for the Commonwealth Games in October.

The Diamonds are in Wellington now preparing for the game, before travelling to Auckland for the third and final game of the test series.

The Firebirds trio was announced on Monday to be part of the Dehli Dozen, fellow Firebird and Diamond Amy Steel missed out on a selection for the Commonwealth Games, but has played an integral role in the Holden Test Series to date.

Diamonds captain Sharelle McMahon said the Diamonds have already proved they are able to stand up to pressure and move away by a couple of goals.

“I was really happy that in those last few minutes (of the Adelaide Test), we were able to hold strong we had a few younger players on court then so it’s not that they’ve had a lot of experience in that situation –they did really well,” she said.

“As a group of 12 going into the Commonwealth Games this will be the first game that we’ve been together as that group so it’s fairly fresh for us and fairly new and we’ve got those combinations to work on and to work on that team feeling that we need to have in a major tournament like the Commonwealth Games.”

Coach Norma Plummer said she picked the team for its versatility.

“We’ll pick our team to suit us and line-up to whatever the Ferns line-up, again you don’t want to start worrying about working out what they are going to do,” she said of tomorrow night’s game.

“I’m not really that concerned, when we get on court then the players have to adjust to whatever their game is.”

The Diamonds v Silver Ferns game will be aired on One HD at 11pm, Thursday, September 2. Sunday’s game will be aired from 2pm.