1 year ago
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JAMAICA’S SUNSHINE Girls, while having the benefit of home-court advantage when they take on South Africa’s SPAR Proteas today in the first game of the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series, face the unenviable task of going into the National Indoor Sports Centre without the services of either Romelda Aiken-George or Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
The number-three ranked Sunshine Girls face off against the number-five ranked SPAR Proteas with new face, Shimona Jok (formerly Nelson), in the shooting circle.
Aiken-George led the line for the Sunshine Girls in their recently concluded Vitality Horizon Series win over England in the absence of long-time captain Fowler-Nembhard, who is pregnant.
Aiken-George’s impact was instrumental to the 2-1 win the team enjoyed and it will be interesting to see how Jok handles the occasion.
“It’s going to be a tough and competitive series and we also want to see how our different combinations will work,” said Sunshine Girls head coach, Sasher-Gaye Henry, in response to the missing duo.
The Horizon series was played across the two countries, with Jamaica tying the opening game in Manchester, England, 49-49 before losing the second 59-47.
On home turf Jamaica won one match by one point (50-49) and the final game 61-53, suggesting the crowd advantage may be significant.
That advantage has left the Sunshine Girls confident despite missing their key players in the shooting circle.
PRETTY CONFIDENT
“I think the girls are pretty confident and with the fact that we’ve done so well against England, they’re using some of that confidence,” said the Sunshine Girls coach.
Still, Henry is all too aware that South Africa, the recently crowned African champions, bring a very different proposition to England.
“(This) is a whole different team and they’ll come with different strengths and weaknesses,” she said.
Important to the job at hand is getting some consistency going. The Sunshine Girls, outside of major tournaments, have been dormant as a unit over the last few years and sometimes that can cause inconsistency in the intensity that is a must at the international level.
“The fact that they were very mentally tough and resilient, against England, is something that we really want to continue to work on as a group,” said Henry.
Another fairly new addition, English recruit Rhea Dixon, has proven to be a good addition to the attacking combinations with her positioning, range of passing and composed play.
It will be interesting to see how she combines with Shanice Beckford, vice-captain of goal attack, and Jok.
In 18 meetings between the SPAR Proteas and the Sunshine Girls, the former have only managed three wins, most notably at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, in 2019, where the South Africans won 55-52 to earn a spot in the semifinals.
But that doesn’t mean the visitors see themselves as underdogs in the slightest, especially with the hosts missing shooters.
“One of the main things that stands out is that the number one and two shooters are out with injuries. We know on the defensive end that’s where the trouble is as we’ve studied them a lot and we have a couple of plans up our sleeves to make sure that we can counter it,” said SPAR Proteas head coach Jennifer Van Dyk.
In an interview with their local newspaper Tuang Daily News, van Dyk expressed having experience in the Caribbean atmosphere.
“It’s my biggest challenge since taking over as coach,” she noted. “It’s always tough playing in the Caribbean, but I went to the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in 2023, so I am used to that kind of atmosphere.”
The game, which begins at 6 p.m., will be preceded by a 3 o’clock clash between the countries’ under-21s.
The two young sides are using the clash as preparation for the Youth Netball World Cup in Gibraltar later this year.
The series continues with the same format on Wednesday with games at 3:30 and 7:00 p.m., and again on the January 25 at 3:00 and 6:00.
English (US) ·