Caitlin Bassett to play 100th Test in Diamonds’ crunch against Silver Ferns
Hit the tyre. That’s all 11-year-old Caitlin Bassett wanted to do during hours of practice every night at home.
Hit the tyre. That’s all 11-year-old Caitlin Bassett wanted to do.
Every night, the young shooter — already 182cm tall — would spend hours firing shots at the makeshift netball post her parents assembled on their Darling Downs property.
Anchoring the rusty metal goalpost was a little, old tyre.
When Bassett hit the shot, she hit the tyre.
“If you got a clean swish, it would always bounce straight off the tyre and roll away, so that was always my goal,” Australian captain Bassett, now 31, said.
“I’d spend hours out there after school until it got dark, until my parents would call me in for dinner.”
Under the humble post, Bassett perfected her shot.
Years later, and the Diamonds captain has scored 2813 goals at 91 per cent accuracy in her professional netball career.
On Sunday, Bassett will play her 100th Test match for Australia, in the Constellation Cup decider against New Zealand in Perth.
“As a 16-year-old debuting for the Perth Oracles, I played against Liz Ellis who was captain of the Diamonds at the time, she was so experienced and I was such a rookie,” Bassett said.
“It’s crazy, back then I had no idea where my career would go, and it’s taken a long time to get to this stage.”
The sharp shooter has since represented Australia at two Netball World Cups and three Commonwealth Games.
Bassett will play her milestone match in front of a crowd of friendly faces — one being her former coach Nicky Prothero.
Prothero coached Bassett and her Diamonds teammate Courtney Bruce when they played state league for Southside Demons.
“Nicky gave me a lot of confidence as a player and young girl, being a bit uncoordinated and awkward in my own body,” Bassett said. And confidence is really important when you’re a goal shooter.”
Prothero bought tickets to the Perth Test match as soon they became available.
“I knew from day one just looking at Caitlin, that she was going to be a Diamond,” Prothero said.
“And even though she’s made it, she never forgets where she comes from, she’s always coming back and spending time with the association.”
The Silver Ferns lead the Constellation Cup netball series 2-1 after securing a one-goal win in Sydney last week. The Diamonds will retain the Cup on goal percentage if they can win at Perth’s RAC Arena, and were given extra motivation this week when shooter Caitlin Thwaites announced her retirement.
Coach Lisa Alexander was guarded when asked about what team changes or tactics she was looking to employ for the series decider.
“They’re really hurting after that loss in Sydney, they’re really annoyed, so I expect a really hard hit back on Sunday,” Alexander said. “I was annoyed too. We had our chances, so we’ve taken a different approach this week.’’
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP
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