Tough opener for Sunshine Girls

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls will oppose world champions Australia in today's opening game of the World FastNet Championships, which will be held in Liverpool, England, starting at 8:40 a.m. (Jamaica time).

A few hours later, the Oberon Pitterson-coached Jamaicans will battle South Africa in their second match of the day, starting at 2:20 p.m. (Jamaica time).

The Sunshine Girls, who are playing in their first competitive tournament since the disastrous performances at the World Netball Championships (WNC) in Singapore, recorded an impressive 41-15 victory over Wales in a practice game on Wednesday. The Jamaicans were humiliated 82-46 by Australia in their last meeting in the semi-finals of the WNC in July. However, they defeated South Africa 72-45 in their last meeting, also at the WNC.

The Sunshine Girls have done exceptionally well since the start of this competition in 2009. They captured the silver medal in 2009 and bronze last year.

However, the Girls will be hard-pressed to repeat those performances, due to the unavailability of a number of their senior players. Those missing include star shooter Romelda Aiken, Sasher-Gaye Henry, Althea Byfield (retired), Paula Thompson and Nicole Aiken.

The Jamaican squad includes three members of the Under-21 team - Deneen Taylor, Vangelee Williams and Dhanyel Johnson.

"I can assure you that we are going there to give a good account of ourselves and come back to Jamaica nowhere worse than we are in the world," said Maureen Hall, high performance director of the Jamaica Netball Association.

"The Under-21 players are pretty inexperienced. However, we are giving them an opportunity to go to the tournament and hopefully gain some experience by their participation," said Hall, a former senior team coach. "Ultimately, they will serve Jamaica well in the future," she added.

The Jamaican team, which will be captained by veteran player Nadine Bryan, also includes four members of the team that participated in the WNC. They are shooters Jhaniele Fowler, Ann-Kay Griffiths and Jodi-Ann Ffrench-Kentish, along with Malysha Kelly.

Vanessa Walker, Tracey-Ann Robinson and Patricia McCalla, three players who did not make the trip to WNC, have also been named.

The Jamaicans will oppose Fiji and England in their final games in the group tomorrow.