The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (Cyathea dealbata), which is an iconic emblem for many New Zealand sports teams. The Silver Ferns were formed in 1938 as a representative New Zealand team to tour Australia. To date, they have been one of the most dominant national netball teams in the world, along with the Australian Diamonds, and have a winning record against most other netball nations. At the end of the 2011 international netball season, the Silver Ferns were ranked second in the IFNA World Rankings.
The Silver Ferns compete annually in a home-and-away test series with Australia, and also play test matches with other major netball countries, including England and Jamaica, on a regular basis. They have competed at every World Netball Championship since its inauguration in 1963, and in every Commonwealth Games since netball's inclusion in 1998. The Silver Ferns have won the World Netball Championships four times (in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2003); they are also the reigning Commonwealth Games, winning the two most recent titles in 2006 and 2010.
The Silver Ferns are administered by Netball New Zealand, the national governing body for netball in the country. Silver Ferns players are usually selected from New Zealand ANZ Championship franchises. The team are presently captained by Laura Langman after incumbent captain Casey Williams became injured. Waimarama Taumaunu is the current head coach after former coach Ruth Aitken retired in 2011.
Read more about New Zealand National Netball Team: Competitive Record
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