Diamonds captain dumped as controversial policy remains in win over NZ

Caitlin Bassett suffered a double blow on Wednesday night as the new boss of Australian netball continues to make some bold moves.

The Diamonds found their groove on Wednesday night.

New Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich ignored the critics and continued with her captaincy rotation policy as Australia beat New Zealand on Wednesday night in the Constellation Cup.

After going down to the Silver Ferns by five goals in the opening match on Tuesday, the Diamonds bounced back last night with a 45-36 win.

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They managed a reversal in fortunes without usual skipper Caitlin Bassett, who was punted to the bench and did not see a minute of game time. Her demotion came after playing the majority of Game 1 and scoring 19 goals, and represents her first match without the captaincy since 2017.

Liz Watson had the “C” next to her name instead, and was thrilled with how her debut captaincy showing panned out.

“I think the first game we were a little bit hesitant in how we were playing,” Watson said. “The girls did a really good job to speak about that this morning and actually put it out there on-court.”

There has been plenty of blowback to Marinkovich’s reluctance to install a permanent captain. Former Australian skipper Liz Ellis is no fan of the uncertainty, saying earlier in the week the coach should bite the bullet and give the captaincy to Watson on a full-time basis, if Bassett is no longer her preferred choice.

Caitlin Bassett warmed the bench on Wednesday night.

Former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander also hit out. “I don’t like the idea of trialling captaincies in what is absolutely a fantastic Test series,” she told ABC’s Offsiders on the weekend.

“It is world No. 1 and world No. 2. It’s got a lot of history. It really needs some serious work and effort. It’s not a trial situation.”

Before the Constellation Cup kicked off, Marinkovich addressed her controversial plan, defending it by explaining the team hadn’t spent enough time together for her to make a permanent call on who the best leadership candidate was.

“I don’t go on social media too much, so that’s news to me,” Marinkovich said of Alexander’s comments before Game 1. “There’s many people out there that have their view, and obviously everybody sees it from a different lens, but I’m in the environment at the moment.

“No one isn’t captain at this point. The whole point, at the moment, is we recognise that there are different leadership qualities across the entire group. It isn’t a trial and error.”

Originally published as Diamonds captain dumped as controversial policy remains in win over NZ