St James juniors upstage Birmingham

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:The St James Under-16 netball team made their parish proud on Tuesday afternoon, when they defeated their English counterparts, the visiting Birmingham Under-16 team, by a comfortable 19-14 margin in their friendly game at the Montego Bay Cricket Club.

"We really wanted to do well in this game because our team consists of players who are involved in the national programme," said Jacinth Carey, the coordinator of the St James team. "In fact, while we won today, we would have been happier if the margin was wider."

The defeat was most disappointing for Birmingham's coaching staff, as it was their third defeat of their four-game tour. In their previous games, they defeated the national Under-13 team, but subsequently lost twice to the national Under-16 team.

"It was a good game. I thought we played well, but it was not easy to match the pace of the St James team, who by their speed seems to be natural athletes," said Jill Armstrong, the coach of the Birmingham team.

"Hopefully, there will be other opportunities for us to come back to Jamaica and hopefully get better results," she added.

In the opening quarter, the Birmingham team started out looking quite composed, but their early dominance was short-lived as once the St James team settled they took control with Carlalee Tingling (Centre) and the wily Allisa Dawkins (GA) combining to give St James a 6-3 lead.

In the second quarter, the Birmingham team tried gallantly to work themselves back into the game with Ellie Reilly (centre), Holly Paton (GA) and Maunca Thompson combining. However, despite their best efforts, St James again won the quarter 6-3 for a 12-6 half-time lead.

In the third quarter, St James pretty much consolidated their lead as while the English girls seemingly fell prey to both their speed and the heat generated by the late-afternoon sun, they remained quite resolute, taking the quarter 6-1 to move comfortably ahead 18-7, heading into the final quarter.

St James made a number of changes in the final quarter and in the process lost some momentum. As a consequence, the Birmingham team was able to win the quarter 7-1, which brought some respectability to the final 19-14 margin of victory.

Dawkins was the undisputed star for St James, getting 13 goals. Paton was the top player for Birmingham, getting 10 of her team's 14 goals.

"This was a fabulous experience for the Birmingham girls and we are really looking forward to more exercises like these," said Marcia Bulgin, the Jamaica-born, British-based business development director, who was instrumental in arranging the tour.

"We will be looking forward to more of these sporting contacts."