When Australian captain Catherine Cox gushed "boys, we love you" in appreciation of the umpires, Gary Burgess and Dalton Hinds, in her post-match speech, there was a collective harrumph from the Silver Ferns fans.
While the netball on display at Hisense Arena in last night's deciding test in Melbourne was world class, the standard of officiating left much to be desired.
The most unforgivable botch-up came late in the third quarter when the bench officials awarded Australia two consecutive centre pass-offs - an amateur mistake that should never happen in the international game.
At that point, the Ferns were clinging to a 29-26 lead, the extra centre pass-off helped the Australians level the score at 31-31 a short time later.
New Zealand coach Waimarama Taumaunu was reluctant to criticise the bench officials over the gaffe, instead lamenting the fact that her side allowed themselves to be unsettled by the incident.
"The scoresheet clearly shows two Australian centre passes, which obviously should not happen, but our whole composure around that episode was not good enough for us," she said.
The botch-up was just one of a number of poor calls to mar the tense finish to the match, with an Australian short pass, and out of court call missed in the last five minutes of the game.
- Dana Johannsen
