Aussies set sights on whitewash

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Minutes after touching down at the Norman Manley International Airport on Sunday night, a confident Australian netball captain, Sharelle McMahon, said her team wants to secure a 3-0 series whitewash over the Sunshine Girls.

Both teams will meet in the three-Test Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series, which shoots off tomorrow at the National Indoor Sports Centre, beginning at 7 p.m.

The other games will be played on Friday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (5 p.m.) at the same venue.

"We are hoping for a 3-0 win," said McMahon in an interview with The Gleaner. "That is what we will be going for, but it is always a tough thing to come over and play in Jamaica," she said.

"The Jamaicans always create such an amazing atmosphere for the girls to play in front of, and it is going to be a challenge for us, and so we really need to keep ourselves up and encourage each other to make sure that we are feeling good out on the court," McMahon said.

When the teams met Down Under in August last year, the Sunshine Girls were soundly beaten 3-0. However, in the reciprocal series here, which was the last time both teams met, the Sunshine Girls rallied from a game down to draw the series 1-1.

McMahon noted that given the Jamaicans' athleticism, they would be looking to close down their options on court to limit their passes into the shooting arc.

Extremely athletic

"They are extremely athletic all over the court, and so for us it is about focusing on shutting those options down and making it really difficult for them to feed the ball inside the circle," McMahon stated.

"I know that the Jamaicans have a huge amount of height in their goal-shooting circle, and that is always a challenge for us."

She added: "This is a very important series for us because we are coming off disappointing losses in the Commonwealth Games and we only have a short time to prepare for the World Championships after our domestic season finishes."

World Championships preparation

McMahon went on to state that the series also forms a big part of their preparations for this year's World Championships, which will be staged in Singapore.

"We have a couple of the changes to our team from the one that we took over to the Commonwealth Games, and so for us it is really about trying to get back into the rhythm of things again," McMahon pointed out.

The three-Test Series will be the Diamonds' first in 2011 and their first match since their extra-time defeat to New Zealand in the gold-medal match at the Commonwealth Games last October.

The full squad is: Sharelle McMahon (captain), Natalie von Bertouch, Kate Beveridge, Madison Browne, Rebecca Bulley, Catherine Cox, Susan Fuhrmann, Laura Geitz, Kimberlee Green, Natalie Medhurst, Lauren Nourse, and Amy Steel.