Sport

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls netball team will be aiming to avoid losing seven consecutive Test matches when they battle arch-rivals England in the second game of their National Commercial Bank two-match Sunshine Series at the National Indoor Sports Centre this evening, starting at 7:30.

The girls produced a lacklustre display on Wednesday evening and were blown away 53-42 by a fast-moving English team.

The defeat was a very tough one for head coach Connie Francis, whose team is also coming off a disastrous tour Down Under, where they were swept 3-0 and 2-0 by Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

Optimistic

However, despite this, Francis said she was very optimistic that her team can end its six-match slide once they play as a unit.

"I am very confident that we can win game two but we will have to compete much harder," said Francis.

"However, one of the critical aspects of our game is controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball because we are making too many unforced errors, and at this level it is hard to come back."

Francis added that she was very impressed with the display by the young players on Wednesday, and has promised to start them ahead of some of the senior players, who were a step behind the English players throughout Wednesday's match.

These young players include debutante goal shooter Jhanelle Fowler, goal attack Ann-Kay Griffith and wing attack Kimone Tulloch.

"I think one of the things that we will definitely have to do is to add the youth early and see what they can do because they are very confident," Francis said. "They came in and they looked like they are ready and so we are going to bring them on early and put some of our senior players on the bench."

The Sunshine Girls began the match slowly, which led to them trailing their opponents 27-17 at half-time and, according to Francis, the plan today is to attack the English from the opening whistle.

"I think that we have to start strong and we have to limit England," she said.

Fowler, 19 goals from 21 attempts, followed by fellow goal shooter Romelda Aiken, 13 goals 14 tries, were the leading scorers for the Jamaicans and they are expected to lead Jamaica's victory bid tonight. They should receive support at the other end from defenders Kasey Evering and Althea Byfield.

Francis' opposite number, Maggie Jackson, said shortly after Wednesday's match she was very confident that they can close out the series, but noted that they won't be taking the home team lightly.

No illusion

"We know that Jamaica will come back at us strong on Friday night and we are under no illusion about that," said Jackson.

"We have to take care of the ball and make the right choices, and once we do this I think we will come out victorious," she said.

Jackson added: "They had a new shooter (Fowler), who came on and did a job for them, and we are going to have look at how we are going to counteract some of the feeding into her at the Jamaican shooting end."

The English will again be relying heavily on ace shooters Jo Harten and Pamela Cookey, who scored 22 and 21 goals, respectively, in game one. They are expected to receive support at the other end from defenders Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor.