Silver Ferns "old hands" came to the rescue to ensure a three-test whitewash over England with a 47-40 win in London yesterday morning.
Two two-goal wins earlier in the week gave New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken more leeway to test new combinations yesterday, and the result was an often scrappy match as England pressured its way to a 19-16 halftime lead.
Captain Casey Williams was given a rare rest on the bench for the first half, Katrina Grant and Anna Scarlett given the nod at goal keep and goal defence respectively.
Midcourt duties were again picked up by Camilla Lees, Laura Langman and Joline Henry, while in a changed attack Anna Thompson partnered Irene van Dyk in the shooting circle.
Consequently, the Silver Ferns struggled to find timing and rhythm on attack as a strong English defence disrupted the feed into the shooters.
Van Dyk was well wrapped up by Sonia Mkoloma and Stacey Francis, putting up only nine shots over the first two halves.
Thompson worked hard, sinking nine from 13, but New Zealand missed the cool head and incisive court work of regular goal attack Maria Tutaia.
Aitken's halftime changes were predictable and effective.
Tutaia came on for Thompson and Williams replaced Scarlett. More importantly, Langman reverted to centre as Lees moved out to the wing, and New Zealand's midcourt regained some of its customary timing and pace.
With her focus firmly on July's world championship in Singapore, Aitken was satisfied.
"It was great to get some new combinations out on court for us, and then to have the old hands really put the game away," she said.
"In international netball, it does take a while for people to get their rhythm, and I thought those old hands did really well. It was a great game. I thought it was very intense."
A four-goal run early in the third quarter put New Zealand level and although England battled back, the Silver Ferns were more composed and finished the spell strongly to lead 30-29 at threequarter time.
Tried-and-true shooting combination Tutaia and van Dyk saw New Zealand home in the last 15 minutes as it outscored England 17-11.
After sinking just 13 goals in the first 30 minutes, the Silver Ferns put the foot down in the second half to wrap up the win.
Van Dyk missed four goals, two in each half, for an 87% success rate, while Tutaia was less accurate at 77% but proved her worth with some excellent court work.
Van Dyk, who had to contend with some uncompromising defence from Mkoloma throughout the series, said the three tests provided the perfect start to the Silver Ferns' world championship build-up.
"We've been pushed to the boundary all the way with the English team. They've been out there every game, pushing us."
England coach Sue Hawkins paid tribute to the New Zealand last-quarter comeback, and the pressure the Silver Ferns exerted over the closing five minutes.
"We had hesitancy come into our game, especially in that last five minutes," she said.
"I thought Laura Langman really penetrated well at their attack end, and opened us up nicely.
"But our girls are starting to use their brains a lot more than they have before in a tactical sense, and we're looking forward to the world championships in July."
The Silver Ferns now return home for the transtasman netball league, which begins early next month.
