Netballers aiming to start 2011 on a high

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

National netball coach, Connie Francis, says Jamaica's Sunshine Girls will be looking to pull out all the stops in an effort to achieve a series victory over the world number-one ranked Australia when the teams meet in a three-Test series at the National Indoor Sports Complex next month.

"We are very confident going into this series because we will be playing at home and we always seem to play our best games here in Jamaica," said Francis, a former national player.

The three-match series, which has been dubbed the Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series, will see the first Test match on January 12, followed by the second game two days later. The final match of the series will be played on January 16.

"It is a welcome series for us, especially with the fact that Australia have been our nemesis throughout the years and we always have to go through them in order to reach the semi-finals of a major championship," said Francis.

She added that they have stepped up their training tremendously ahead of this series, because the girls have shown a lot hard work and dedication in practice."We love playing at home because the support here is just fabulous and fantastic, and especially going up against Australia, we know that girls will do more than just their best to achieve a series victory," Francis said.

Expecting competitive series

Francis noted that she is expecting a very competitive series because the Australians are coming here to seek to maintain their supremacy over Jamaica, so the local girls must ensure that they capitalise on the mistakes of the visitors and not allow them to take control in each match.

Francis, however, is very aware that it will be a tough series.

She added: "They are a very good team because they have been number one or two in the world since I was a player and so they are highly respected here."

The world number-four ranked Jamaica fell below their own expectations at the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, as they could only manage a fourth-place finish. They followed that with a third-place finish at the just-concluded World Fastnet Netball Championships in Liverpool, England, after finishing second at last year's inaugural tournament.

However, despite this, Francis believes that this series represents a perfect opportunity for them to start the year on a high, and it also gives them a chance to assess the physical and mental readiness of the players ahead of next year's World Netball Championships, which will be held in Singapore.

"We will be using these matches to execute some of the things that we have been working on in training, and so it is very important that we are able to play against one of the top teams in the world at this time," Francis reasoned. The last time Jamaica faced Australia in a Test series at home, it ended 1-1. The Sunshine Girls were, however, whitewashed 3-0 by the hosts when they visited Australia in August.