Titans have it all to do against mighty Jamalco
WHEN HIS team faces Jamalco in Netball Jamaica’s Middlesex County Supreme Ventures Major League semi-final at the Leila Robinson Courts this afternoon at 4 o’clock, Marlon Hibbert, the coach of Titans, will be looking to pull off what would be a huge upset.
“A netball game can go any way, but we’re going up against the best team in Clarendon,” said Hibbert, referring to the many-time national champions.
“We’re going there and are hoping for the best, even though we know we have a talented team. We played them earlier and they defeated us,” he added.
That fact, sad as it may be, is the likely outcome of the encounter for a Titans team given their chance among the big guns because Netball Jamaica expanded the league.
“It has been very competitive so far and it has basically exposed the girls,” Hibbert noted of the competition. “It’s a good thing for the players. It’s of a higher standard, so it is good for their development. All I can say is we’re hoping for the best.”
Jamalco, meanwhile, will be led by former national captain and shooter Elaine Davis and Althea Byfield, another former Sunshine Girl on Winston Nevers’ high-powered team.
LOT OF STAR POWER
The winners will face the winners of semi-final two between Rivoli and G.C. Foster College, which has a lot of star power, with Sunshine Girls Adean Thomas, Stacian Facey and Zonasha Hinds.
The Surrey County Major League final will be between the all-conquering UTech and Molynes ‘A’. UTech won the Corporate Area Major League and intercollegiate titles and are motivated for additional silverware.
“It has been pretty much a long season,” noted their coach, Marvette Anderson. “The ladies are looking forward to Sunday’s game. It’s another chance for them to become champions.”
Anderson’s team, which includes Sunshine Girls Shanice Beckford, Khadijah Williams, Jodiann Ward and Kerry-Ann Brown, won both matches against Molynes, but she remains cautious.
“I know the past performances don’t really give you the championship, but I expect the ladies to do well,” said Anderson.
The Major League finals are set to begin at 7 p.m. and will be preceded by the Sunshine Cereals Intermediate League and Supreme Ventures Minor League semis and finals for teams in the counties of Middlesex and Surrey.
Semis begin at 2 p.m. Global ‘B’ vs the Jamaica Defence Force and Police ‘A’ vs Tantrum in Surrey Minor League; and Jobs Lane vs Xtreme and Ken’s Wild Flower vs MD Strikers in Middlesex Minor League. The winners will play in the respective championship games at 5 p.m.
Intermediate League games will start at 3 p.m. Middlesex’s Hayes ‘A’ will play Jetters for the right to meet the winners of the Friendship-Warriors battle in the final. For Surrey, it’s Global ‘A’ vs Morant Bay Uprising and Excelsior Eagles vs Flames Police Youth Club, with the final set for 5 p.m.