Sunshine Girls still a threat without missing big three – NJ President

President of Netball Jamaica (NJ), Karen Rosen Baugh, says despite the absence of three of the country’s top netball stars, she is expecting a strong showing from the Sunshine Girls in their upcoming three-Test series against world champions Australia in February.

The Sunshine Girls are coming off a 2-0 series defeat to hosts England earlier this month. The team was without seven of its senior players for that tour due to various reasons.

The series against Australia will be a historic one, marking the first time the Sunshine Girls and the world’s number-one ranked team will meet in a standalone series since 2011. The opening match will be played on February 5 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, followed by the second Test on February 8 at Perth’s RAC Arena. The final encounter will take place on February 11 at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena.

Jamaica will again be without captain Jhaniele Fowler, who recently announced her pregnancy, as well as Shamera Sterling, who is recovering following the birth of her child, and Jodi-Ann Ward, who is recuperating from surgery.

“The coaches are doing their work and the selectors are also putting in the work as well, but as you know some team members are unavailable because Jhaniele just announced her pregnancy, Shamera is recovering from childbirth and Jodi-Ann Ward is recovering from surgery, and so those three players will definitely be out,” Rosen Baugh said.

She acknowledged that the task ahead will be a difficult one but welcomed the challenge of facing the reigning world champions.

“Of course it is going to be tough and we expect it to be tough. The Australian team is a tough team, so we are looking forward to facing them in February. I won’t be able to say what the team is for this series. I’ve left it up to the coaches and selectors, who are doing their work as we speak,” she added.

Rosen Baugh noted that she is confident that Jamaica will field a stronger squad than the one that faced England.

“I know that we will have a much stronger team than the one we had against England because a number of our senior players should be back, but I will leave that up to the coaches and selectors to decide,” she said.

Rosen Baugh also stressed that the series forms part of the Sunshine Girls’ broader preparation for future major tournaments.

“Australia are the number-one team in the world for a reason, and even with our full squad it is going to be a tough series. So we are muscling up and trying to prepare for what that will look like,” she said.

“But all the teams are trying to get a look at each other before the Commonwealth Games, so that is part of our objective as well, and then we will give the coaching team some work to do between then and summer, when we have the Commonwealth Games.”