Jamaica aim to complete series sweep
Published:Tuesday | August 23, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer
Jamaica's junior Sunshine Girls will be aiming to take a 3-0 series lead against their English counterparts when both teams meet in Game Three at the G.C. Foster College in St Catherine today, starting at 6 p.m.
The C. Lloyd Walker-coached Jamaicans registered an easy 47-25 victory England on Saturday at the same venue, after winning the opening game 44-29 on Friday.
"We are looking for another win tomorrow (today), and so we are going to play competitive netball with the hope that we will get another win to secure a 3-0 series victory," said Walker.
"However, we are not going to take them lightly, because we know that they have some experience in their team and we have had some close quarters with them," Walker said.
Preparation
Both teams are using the series as part of their preparation for the World Youth Championships (WYC), which will be held in Scotland in 2013.
The Jamaicans won the bronze medal at the last championships, which was held in the Cook Islands in 2009.
Walker added that he will also be resting a number of their regular starters for today's encounter because he wants to give other members of his squad the opportunity to parade their skills.
"We will be making some changes to give some other players some experience so as to build their confidence going forward," Walker reasoned.
In the meantime, England's head coach, Jan Crabtree, said despite being down in the series, she was still hopeful that her team could come out victorious in today's encounter.
"I think that we can bounce back in this game because we've the capacity to do so and the players know this," said Crabtree.
"We will be hoping to make a good start in this game, because in the previous games Jamaica dominated the first quarters and then we were chasing the game from there on," she said.
Crabtree added: "We have been working on some things since our last game. They have been working for us and so we hope to take these into tomorrow's (today) game against the Jamaicans."