Sunshine Girls brush aside T&T

... Turn attention to upcoming series against England

After turning back the challenge of Trinidad and Tobago with minimal fuss, brushing them aside 56-26 yesterday at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport to sweep their three-Test series, Jamaica's Sunshine Girls will now turn their attention to the April 26-30 visit of rivals England.

Jamaica made light work of their regional counterparts, but face a much more serious challenge in the form of England, who will present the team with their last test-run before the July 3-10 World Netball Championships in Singapore.

Head coach Connie Francis, who actually acted as assistant to defensive coach Oberon Pitterson in one of the Jamaica Netball Association's initiative to expose more personnel to different roles, was pleased with the output of her players over the weekend series, but knows that much more will be required of them when the world number three English team makes its entry.

A must-win

"The England series is a must-win for us," said Francis quite bluntly. "It's always a grudge match for us and as always, it's important in terms of the ranking when we face teams like England.

"We won't have Romelda (Aiken) and Kasey (Evering), but we are quite confident that our other players will step up to the plate because we can see where everyone is developing and improving their personal game and collectively as a team, so it's a good time to go up against England," Francis added.

Jamaica defeated the number eight-ranked Trinidad and Tobago 46-34 on Saturday evening, one day after their 64-36 manhandling of the visitors at the same venue, in a series that was largely used as an opportunity to test several combinations and will help to select Jamaica's team for the upcoming England series.

Anna-Kay Griffiths had an industrious afternoon yesterday, scoring 22 goals from 29 attempts to lead the Jamaicans with Simone Forbes, who came on in the third quarter, helping out with 13 from 15. Jodi-Ann Ffrench-Kentish chipped in with 11 from 15, while Marsha Murphy, who only featured in the fourth quarter, had 10 from 12. Joelisa Cooper top-scored for Trinidad and Tobago with 10 goals from 12 attempts, while Jillisa Allan scored seven from 10.

"The series was very good, I saw where the girls grew from strength to strength, especially in their confidence level. It was fantastic to see how well the girls stood up to the challenge and I think that overall we have accomplished our objectives," said Francis, who reserved special praise for Griffiths.

"I'm very happy with her (Griffiths), she is a player that comes in with heaps of talent and I hope that she will become more consistent in her play and I'm sure she will blossom into her own and knock on the door of the selectors. It was great to see how she combined with the other shooters and we asked her to show her athletic ability and she showed that," Francis said.

- Andre Lowe