Tough basketball task

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 35

Tough basketball task

PA Sydney The defection-hit New Zealand men’s basketball team faces one of the game’s superpowers tonight when it meets Australia in the first test of a series to determine who will play in the world championships next year. The assistant coach, Murray McMahon, said yesterday that playing Australia, which finished fourth in last year’s Olympics, was a “huge undertaking” for the relatively inexperienced New Zealanders. “We’re really looking for experience, we’ll be attacking all the time and we want to make the most of the opportunity to gain that experience,” Mr McMahon said. Realistically, experience and gaining the respect of the Australians are the best New Zealand can expect from the tests. There is virtually no chance of a third test being required to decide the series. In the last 20 years, New Zealand has taken only one test from Australia.

Top players Glen Denham, Byron Vaetoe, Neil Stephens, Adrian Tuitama, Gilbert Gordon and John Hill were all unavailable for this series and two of the most promising younger players, John Adie and Nenad Vucinic, are both now unable to play. Adie is sufferring from flu and Vucinic has been ruled ineligible to play by the International Basketball Federation because he has not fulfilled citizenship regulations, although his mother was born in New Zealand. The teams are:— New Zealand: Alan Ovens, Chris Simpson, Euan Lockhart, Frank Mulvihill, lan Webb, Nick Pearce, Peter Pokai, Richard L’Ami, Ralph Adams, Andy Bennett. Australia: Ray Borner, Mark Bradtke, Andrew Gaze, David Graham, Damian Keogh, Luc Longley, Mike McKay, Larry Sengstock, Philip Smyth, Andrew Valhov.

® New Zealand women’s basketball does not have the same preoccupation with

money as the men’s game, which is why the country’s best team will line up against Australia today, the coach, Anne Robertson, said yesterday.

The Hamilton match is the first in a three-test series for the Oceania zone of the world championship qualifying series.

Ms Robertson is more than pleased with the quality of her 10-strong team. She has dropped Shelley Meads and Rhonda Milner from the original 12 named last month. The teams are:—

New Zealand: Sheryl George (Waikato); Kate Jerram (Otago); Sue Bennett, Sonja Akkerman (Canterbury); Marie Powell, Audri Poto, Corrina Cordtz, Vicki Cunningham, Leone Patterson (Auckland); Shelley Norris (N.Z.8.1.). Australia: Michelle Timms, Shelley Gorman, Sandra Brondello, Debbie Slimmon, Donna Brown, Jenny Reisener, Marina Pearce, Karen Dalton, Samantha Russell, Rachael Sporn.