Fourth world netball contest starts today

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33928, 22 August 1975, Page 20

Fourth world netball contest starts today

Australia, England, and New Zealand will be the favoured teams at the fourth world netball tournament, which begin in Auckland today.

The other teams are Fiji, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, Wales, and an international invitation team.

Six of the teams — Fiji, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Trinidad and Tobago, England, and Wales — have used pre-tournament tours of New Zealand as their final preparation for the series.

The only one to come to the South Island was England, which played games against Canterbury and South Canterbury last weekend.

England beat Canterbury, 53 - 33, and South Canterbury, 45-22,' and judging by the way its players used the court, their confident handling and exploitation of moves, and the over-all physical appearance of the players (most of whom are over 6ft) they could well become the first English side to win the World Championship. N.Z. PLAYER

One of the English players, Lyn MacDonald, is from Otago, and she represented New Zealand in two tests against the touring Australians in 1969. The first World Tournament was held at Eastbourne, England in 1963 and was won by Australia, which defeated New Zealand

by one goal, in the last two deciding games. It was at this tournament that New Zealand set a then world record for an international game by beating Northern Ireland, 112-4. Four years later the second World championships were held at Perth, Australia, and this time New Zea-

land was victorious, beating Australia in the final game by six goals. Australia regained the title in Jamaica in 1971, again beating New Zealand in the deciding game.

Apart from England, other teams which will challenge the Australia-New Zealand domination of previous tournaments, could be Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Scotland and, possibly Wales.

SPECIAL GAME New Zealand will play the international invitation team in the opening match. This team takes the place of Kenya, which decided to withdraw, and will contain New Zealand players and some from the other teams in the tournament. It will be a special game of two 15minute spells. Meanwhile a back injury has probably finished the netball career of the Wellington representative captain, Christina Bruce. She was also the first defence reserve for the New Zealand team.