Australia maintained their recent dominance over world netball champions New Zealand with a 53-46 victory over the Silver Ferns at Auckland's Vector Arena on Wednesday night.

It was Australia's fifth win in their last six meetings with New Zealand.

New Zealand led early but Australia took control to establish a 17-10 advantage by quarter time.

Australia increased their advantage by one in each of the next two quarters, to lead 31-23 at halftime and 44-35 at the final break.

New Zealand-born shooter Catherine Cox, who was recalled to the run-on side in place of her Sydney team-mate Susan Pratley, spearheaded Australia's attack with 33 goals from 39 attempts and missed just one shot in the first three quarters.

Vice-captain and shooting partner Sharelle McMahon offered strong support with 20 goals at 77 per cent.

Australia led by as much as 10 goals early in the second quarter.

New Zealand made only minor inroads into the deficit, however, and never got the margin below six in the final term.

Prolific Kiwi shooter Irene Van Dyk was the only one of New Zealand's three shooters to average over 70 per cent, scoring 31 goals at 86 per cent.

Cox apart, Australian coach Norma Plummer made one enforced change to the team that started the last Test against Jamaica.

Melbourne Kestrels defender Julie Prendergast won her first senior start and her second cap overall in place of the injured Mo'onia Gerrard.

Plummer made no changes to her team throughout the game, while her New Zealand counterpart Ruth Aitken made three alterations to her starting line-up.

The two teams travel to Australia for Tests in Melbourne on Saturday and Adelaide next Tuesday.

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© 2003 AAP

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