England’s Vitality Roses meet Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls this week for a three-match international netball test series.
Starting tomorrow at 7:15pm at the Manchester Copper Box Arena, the series then continues to the Copper Box Arena in London for matches on Saturday at 2:15pm and Sunday at 2pm.
England head coach Jess Thirlby said: “As we move closer to the Netball World Cup, this series against Jamaica gives us the opportunity to continue testing our combinations, build on what we’re doing well and implement of the learnings from a robust autumn series against Uganda and Australia.
“This series will be a much welcomed and exciting test for us, Jamacia have a hugely talented squad.”
Thirlby named her 16 strong squad taking on Jamaica back in December, which included the experience of Helen Housby and Natalie Metcalf and the exciting newcomers of Alice Harvey and Olivia Tchine.
Leeds Rhinos’ Elle McDonald has been called up for her first international series following her appearance at the FAST5 Netball World Series last month.
Unfortunately Loughborough Lightning’s Beth Cobden was injured and therefore unavailable for selection.
David Parsons, performance director, said: “This will allow us to see more combinations on court, observe the development of our athletes and give our coaching team more time to work with a wider group of players as we continue to build towards the Netball World Cup and beyond.”
England, who moved up to third in the world rankings near the end of last year, will be taking on the netball Commonwealth Games silver medallists in Jamaica.
The sides previously met back in 2021, with the Roses coming out on top with a 2-1 victory over the series, their first series win against Jamaica since 2013.
As part of this test series the Future Roses, led by head coach Sheonah Forbes, are also due to play England A led by head coach Kat Ratnapala.
In a series of behind-closed doors training matches the England A squad have played Wales and Jamaica, they will take on the Scottish Thistles at the Manchester Arena tomorrow with a team taken from a pool of players contending for positions at the World Cup in South Africa this summer.
This is ahead of the Future Roses playing England netball men’s team the England Thorns in London, also on Saturday and Sunday.
All three matches are live through the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.
Featured Image Credit: Ben Lumley
