Full-strength Sunshine Girls for tri-series
President of Netball Jamaica ( NJ), Tricia Robinson, said the country will be fielding a full-strength team in the Trination home series against South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in October, as the top netballers who are plying their trade overseas have stated their availability and intention to suit up.
Robinson said Sunshine Girls captain and goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, along with Shamera Sterling, Jodi- Ann Wade, Romelda Aiken, KadieAnn Dehaney and Latanya Wilson, who are currently plying their trade in the Suncorp Super Netball League in Australia, are all available for the series.
“They have indicated their availability for the series and so we are happy that we will be fielding a full strength squad for the series,” said Robinson.
“We will face Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa in
October and we are looking to face England in early December and this is all in preparation for the Commonwealth Games next summer,” she said.
Fowler, who plays for West
Coast Fever, is the Suncorp Super League’s top scorer with 883 goals this season. Sterling, who plays for the Adelaide Thunderbirds, has recorded the most interceptions with 49. The championship is scheduled to finish on August 29.
The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, captured the bronze medal at the last Commonwealth Games, which was held in the Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018. Then at the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, Jamaica finished fifth in the tournament.
Robinson pointed out that they will be taking the Trination very seriously because it forms a very important part of their preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Netball World Cup in 2023.
“It is very important that we play together as a unit and so we are looking forward to the entire team playing together against these teams,” she said.
“The development squad is in training and we have some players that have moved up to the senior squad and the coach has been putting in a lot of work,” she added.