mmg.com.au

Kyabram croquet player Claire Bassett has recently returned from a history-making trip to New Zealand where she represented Australia in the Trans-Tasman Test Series.

Bassett was part of the Australian team which achieved a 3-0 whitewash of the host nation, Australia’s first ever test series win over New Zealand on the hosts own turf.

Individually she achieved a great result as well, being one of only two Australian players to only drop one doubles match in the entire series.

Test series teams are made up of four men and four women and each test match consisting of eight singles and four mixed doubles matches played over two days of competition.

Australia secured the series win thanks to winning scores of 8-4, 8-3 (with one match incomplete) and 7-5.

Bassett said she was surprised to be selected for the team as she has had little top level competition recently since giving birth to her second child.

‘‘It was a bit of a leap of faith by the selectors but I’ve practiced really hard whenever possible,’’ she said.

‘‘I wasn’t able to practice much for a while and just played tournaments so my ranking suffered.

‘‘Our girls are nearly four and two years old now and they know mum needs a bit of time on the croquet lawn to practice.’’

Bassett intends to practice hard over the next 12 months and try to earn herself a place in the Australian MacRobertson Shield team, the highest team honour for a croquet player.

‘‘There hasn’t been a female player make the MacRobertson Shield team for many years, she said.

Claire’s husband Trevor Bassett is also hitting form after recently winning the NSW doubles title with partner Stephen Richards from Canberra.

The state championship was held as a lead up competition for the Australian Championships to be held in Adelaide in March and Trevor will be there representing NSW, which has won the last three national titles.

It will be his first appearance in the competition since 2006.