Gretel Tippett is to become Australia's 165th international netball representative just four years after first playing the game. The emerging Queensland Firebirds star is due to make her Test debut in Thursday's second Constellation Cup fixture against New Zealand in Auckland. 
The former national under-19 basketballer and WNBL rookie of the year watched Tuesday's series opener in Christchurch from the bench, as first-choice duo Caitlin Bassett (38/44) and MVP Natalie Medhurst (12/14) shared the scoring duties in the Diamonds' 50-44 follow-up to their World Cup success over the Silver Ferns in   August.
The squad's other rookie, Tippett's ANZ Championship teammate Gabi Simpson, did earn her first minutes as a replacement for injured wing-defence Renae Ingles, after the new vice-captain strained her calf. Ingles will be replaced by   April Letton for game two, but is expected to be fit for the final two Tests - in Melbourne on Sunday and Perth on Friday week.
Coach Lisa Alexander is keen to blood Tippett, the athletic 22-year-old with the unorthodox hoops-based style and a family sporting pedigree that includes AFL-playing brothers Kurt and Joel. The Firebirds' premiership player is one of five shooters in the squad for the New Zealand phase of the series.
"Look, I certainly hope [to give Tippett some court time]," Alexander said. "I'd love to get her out there; she's been training really well. We haven't got a lot of time to do a turnaround, but all her training up until this point has been terrific. She's just built with every session.
"I think she adds just unusual ability, really. It's all of us learning to exploit that to its maximum capacity in our set-up, and she's got obviously to feed different shooters when she's a goal attack, so she needs to work on that. She's got a great high-release pass, so we just want to use its full effectiveness with a [Bassett] or a Caity Thwaites, or even a smaller moving shooter."
Alexander was satisfied the Diamonds achieved their aim of winning each quarter in what she described as "a good solid win" in Christchurch. As for Auckland: "I want to see us not wasting our opportunities," the coach said. "We probably let go a few too many opportunities when we got turnovers, so I just want to make sure we get those scores on the board."
Pleased with the performance at goal defence of Sharni Layton, Alexander said there was a possibility of goal keeper Laura Geitz spending time further up the court.