Young shooting sensation Grace Nweke may make her much-anticipated international debut, after being named in the Silver Ferns team for the second Taini Jamison Trophy test against England at Christchurch.
Nweke, 19, is one of three changes to coach Dame Noeline Taurua's side that won Monday's opening match 48-42, alongside fellow rookie Kate Heffernan and midcourt Peta Toeava.
Midcourt Gina Crampton - who debuted as Ferns captain in the first-test win - has been ruled out of the game, succumbing to a hip abductor strain. Jamie Hume and Madeline Gordon have also been omitted from the team.
In Crampton's absence, Sulu Fitzpatrick will become New Zealand's 29th captain.
Nweke was one of the driving forces behind Northern Mystics' ANZ Premiership title this year, named MVP in the Grand Final win against Mainland Tactix. She finished as the competition's leading scorer, netting 852 goals at a success rate of 90 percent.
She was selected to the Silver Ferns development squad earlier this year and earned promotion with her eye-catching Mystics campaign.
Nweke will hope to join fellow newcomer Tiana Metuarau, who'll be out to back up her dream debut earlier this week, when she netted 17 of 19 attempts on goal in a standout peformance against the Roses.
Mystics teammate Toeava will be looking to add to her solitary test cap, by playing her first international since 2018, forcing her way back into the national squad with an impressive ANZ Premiership season.
Midcourter Heffernan is another development squad graduate, after making a positional shift from defence and shining with Southern Steel in 2021. She hopes to become a dual NZ international, after opening the bowling in Twenty20 internationals for the White Ferns against West Indies in 2018.
The Silver Ferns can clinch the Taini Jamison Trophy with victory on Wednesday, before Friday's third and final test.
Silver Ferns: Tiana Metuarau, Grace Nweke, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Maia Wilson, Kate Heffernan, Claire Kersten, Shannon Saunders, Peta Toeava, Sam Winder, Karin Burger, Sulu Fitzpatrick (c), Kelly Jury
Join us at 7pm Wednesday for live updates of the second Silver Ferns v England test
