Netball World Cup: Australia v Trinidad & Tobago

In the day’s early game, the Silver Ferns continued their mix-and-match start to the World Cup, racking up a 74-38 win over Trinidad and Tobago in their second pool match at Sydney’s Olympic Park.

In contrast, Mes and Maria Tutaia missed only three of their 18 shots on goal to give the New Zealanders a 36-13 lead at halftime.

They have adopted the catchphrase “pressure is a privilege” from the tennis star to deal with the weight of expectation of a Netball World Cup on home soil.

Australia are the almost-unbackable favourites, and are likely to follow in the footsteps of the Socceroos (Asian Cup) and the Australian Cricket Team (Cricket World Cup) in claiming significant silverware on the world stage for Australia in 2015.

The Silver Ferns feel they’ve got a much better handle on the Caribbean style of play after battling past Trinidad and Tobago in their second round of pool play.

Netball World Cup’s Kath Tetley said the trophy tour was about community engagement and fan experience. Alexander suggests the development of back-up shooter Caitlin Thwaites, who beat four Diamonds teammates to the Swifts MVP award in a grand final season, will answer that.

Shonica Wharton of Barbados catches the ball during the 2015 Netball World Cup match between New Zealand and Barbados at Allphones Arena on August 7, 2015 in Sydney, Australia.

Hitting the courts at this year’s tournament will be Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Malawi, South Africa, Wales, Scotland, Fiji, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Zambia.

But the Kiwis still looked comfortable in strolling out to a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The result gets the Australians’ campaign for an 11th world title off to a solid start and extends their unbeaten run to 20 Tests.

Fox Sports is televising every game live, while Channel 10 is broadcasting Sunday’s Australia-New Zealand match live, as well as any subsequent knockout games featuring Australia.

“It was a bit of a patchy game, we started off quite slow and it seemed to take a while for us to click”.

Although Geitz hasn’t squashed those rumours completely, she has said that no decision has been made on her future, with Firebirds fans desperate to see the 27-year-old go around at least one more time.

As the term progressed the Diamonds increasingly settled. “And we need to keep improving, because we know we’ve got to stay ahead of everybody else, otherwise they’re going to catch us”.

“I really do think that, because all the players have taken on board improvement – they’ve certainly not sat where they were this time last year”, Alexander said.