Netball: Van Dyk taking nothing for granted

Irene van Dyk is set to play her 100th test for the Silver Ferns on Wednesday. Photo / Richard Robinson

For a player with 99 tests under her belt, Silver Ferns goal shoot Irene van Dyk is scrupulously careful not to make any assumptions ahead of Wednesday's fifth and final netball test against Australia in Auckland.

Even a passing mention of the match being the 100th time she will take the court for New Zealand has the prolific 1.90m shooter looking uneasy.

Not that van Dyk is superstitious, but she is wary of second-guessing Ruth Aitken, as the Silver Ferns coach ponders her options after three increasingly narrow losses to the Diamonds over the last two weeks.

"I don't want to focus on it, because I don't know if I'm going to hit the court," she said.

"I don't want to assume that I'm going to play, because it could be a huge disappointment. It's going to be a game just like any other game and once I'm done with it, that's when I'll go `woohoo'."

Barring injury, it's hard to see van Dyk not starting on Wednesday.

If she does, she will become only the second New Zealander to top 100 caps for the Silver Ferns, with long-serving captain Lesley Rumball collecting 109 in her 12-year career which ended in 2005.

No-one else in world netball has come close to former South African van Dyk's combined total of 171 international caps, with Australian Liz Ellis probably the closest after she amassed 122 over 15 years before retiring in 2007.

Van Dyk is happier to concentrate on the best way for the Silver Ferns to beat Australia, who have won three of the last four tests against the Diamonds, the latest a narrow 47-46 victory yesterday in Invercargill.

"It's the finer details, the little links that aren't happening. But I think every time we've played, that little bit more of an understanding between the players is getting there, slowly but surely."

The South African-born shooter began her international career in 1994 for her native country, and racked up 72 caps in six years, attending two world championships along the way.

She played a huge part in an upset semifinal victory over New Zealand at the 1995 world championships in Birmingham, in the South African team who went on to lose to Australia in the final. Van Dyk shifted to New Zealand nine years ago and has played for the Silver Ferns since.

She shows no sign of slowing down: "I train too hard to give it up now!" The Wellington-based 37-year-old has survived numerous calls for her head over the years, the most vociferous in 2007 when England ambushed the Silver Ferns 50-45 for only their second win in 32 years.

There were mutterings, too, last week when the Silver Ferns suffered their second loss in four days to Australia. The 33-36 loss was notable for van Dyk's uncharacteristically sub-par performance.

A player whose success rate consistently hits the late 80s and early 90s - against England last year she even managed the perfect game in not missing a shot - van Dyk only managed 73 per cent in an effort she admitted at the time was not good enough.

In Invercargill she bounced back with a 90 per cent game, only missing three shots from 30 attempts as New Zealand battled mightily only to see a last-minute turnover lose them the test.

Van Dyk said her game is always developing, and is a world away from what she took to the court as a raw 22-year-old 15 years ago.

"My game has changed incredibly, I used to get pushed around - mind you, nothing's different now - but I think I have grown in a netball sense," she said.

"It's easier for me to play with different kinds of players and I think that's more the thinking kind of netball, rather than just the doing netball."

- NZPA