Liz Ellis often refers to shooters as the “princesses” of netball; the ponytail-tossing prima donnas who crave the spotlight. While said in jest, there’s some truth in the characterisation by Australia’s most capped netballer. That’s because it takes a particular type of self-assurance and composure to hold the hopes of a team, even a nation, quite literally in your hands.
It requires extra-special fortitude, then, for a player to head into a Test series to represent the No 1 side in the world – who won every trophy on offer last year – in the knowledge that their performance may all but determine selection for the upcoming World Cup.
