3 minute read

Australia coach Lisa Alexander has given all 12 of her World Cup squad a run in a 99-76 practice-match win over a Super Netball composite side.

Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander hopes her team can fly under the radar at next month's World Cup, something host nation England can only dream about.

Australia scored a 99-76 win over a Super Netball composite team in a six-quarter practice match in Sydney.

Alexander rotated her 12 squad members in one of two hitouts before the team heads to England next week for their World Cup defence.

"We on purpose changed our lineup every quarter, normally we wouldn't do that," Alexander said.

"We wanted to cause a little bit more difficulty for the team to cope with so they can start to learn to sort things out."

While pleased the Diamonds' ability to force turnovers improved as the game progressed, Alexander said they needed to work on improving their attacking connections.

"It was messy in bits but there was some terrific stuff in other bits," Alexander said.

Asked if the team was where she hoped it would be, she said: "After yesterday I would have said I'm really pleased, today shows us clearly we''ve got work to do."

She was happy with the play of shooter Steph Wood and midcourter Jamie-Lee Price.

Australia will have two more practice matches in England, where the hosts will be looking to repeat their stunning Commonwealth Games triumph.

"We know we need to keep our heads down and work hard, but also make sure that the pressure is put firmly on the English to perform because they are at their home World Cup,'"Alexander said.

"There's expectation there which is different to how they came into the Comm Games.

"I think everyone was surprised by that result at the end of the day, I wasn't but the netball public would have been

"They probably achieved that a little bit earlier than what they would have wanted.

"They really wanted to get this one (the World Cup) and so the burden of expectation will be really interesting to see how they cope with that.

"I'd like to fly under the radar."

Alexander said she had a better idea of her strongest starting seven after Wednesday's hitout.

"Some players coped well with all of those changes and some others have not coped quite as well and that's up to us now to talk with those players and get those combinations going," she said.