The Fast5 Ferns of New Zealand brought the curtain down on this year’s Fast5 World Series with a hat-trick of titles but there is uncertainty about the future staging of netball’s shortened form game.
Yesterday at the Vector Arena in Auckland, the Ferns defeated Australia’s Fast5 Flyers 35-31.
The England Fives edged Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls 31-30 to take third place and SPAR Fast5 South Africa beat Malawi Fast5 Queens 30-22 for fifth place.
But even as the tournament came to an end, International Netball Federation president Molly Rhone said there was no host or date for the next tournament.
“As of now we have no host for the Fast5 World Series in 2015 so it is unlikely we will have Fast5 next year because our focus really is around the World Cup,” Rhone is quoted as saying.
Rhone said negotiations with a prospective host broke down.
She is confident this would not be the end of the Fast5 tournament which is exclusively for the top six countries in the world, but they are reluctant to take on all the tournament costs; which also include airfare and accommodation for the visiting teams.
New Zealand hosted the last three tournaments.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s victory was a thrilling, though bittersweet send-off for shooter Irene Van Dyk.
This was supposed to be the farewell international for the 42-year old; but a back injury prevented her from playing.
Instead she was kept as a technical advisor to the team and was one of the biggest cheerleaders on the side-lines.
Van Dyk’s last series was back in January against Jamaica in England. She played a record 217 Test matches over 20 years.
Scores:
Final: New Zealand 35, Australia 31
Third: England 31, Jamaica 30
Fifth: South Africa 30, Malawi 22
Preliminaries: Australia 30, South Africa 8
Jamaica 29, Malawi 28
New Zealand 30, England 26
Jamaica 45, South Africa 20
England 42, Malawi 39
New Zealand 30, Australia 21
Jamaica 27, England 26
Australia 35, Malawi 33
New Zealand 34, South Africa 25
Australia 31, England 24
South Africa 33, Malawi 30
New Zealand 35, Jamaica 10
