Co-captains Joelisa Cooper and Candice Guerrero will be hoping to lead T&T’s “Calypso netballers” to an opening series win when they come up against host England in the first match of their Tri-Series today.
The clash between the world ninth ranked T&T and third ranked England takes place at Sports Training Village, Bath, Somerset, England from 7.15pm (2.15pm TT time).
It will be the first international outing for the Wesley “Pepe” Gomes T&T women since they outclassed regional rival Barbados 53-46 to top the seven-team 14th edition of the International Netball Federation (INF) Americas Regional Qualifying Tournament to the INF Netball World Cup at SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta, Canada last August with a 6-0 record.
However, in their last two meetings with England, the T&T women were banished without a fight, 24-56 in the first match of a Tri-Series which also included South Africa in 2013, and last year, 24-70 in the group stages of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
However, speaking from the Hilton Hotel, Bath City where the team is based, coach Gomes said he was confident that his team would show great improvement in their upcoming matches.
“Playing England is always a hugh task, but I think we have closed the gap in terms of the margin of defeats we suffered in our recent meetings. We also have a stronger team here on tour with the inclusion of Candice Guerrero and Samantha Wallace, who i believe makes a big difference.”
“Since arriving we have held training sessions twice daily and now we are just looking forward to testing ourselves against England to gauge how far we have reach in terms of preparations for Australia,” said Gomes.
Both teams are using the matches as part of their preparations for the 14th Netball World Cup in Sydney Australia, from August 7-16 and will play two other matches on May 8 at Copper Box Arena, London, 5.30 pm (12.30 pm T&T time) and Sunday May 11, at Echo Arena, Liverpool, 7.15 pm (2.15 pm T&T time).
In addition to Cooper and Guerrero, other regular members of the team selected are Samantha Wallace, Kemba Duncan, Rhonda John-Davis, Onella Jack, Kalifa Mc Collin, Afeisha Noel, Daystar Swift, and Kielle Connelly, the “Most Valuable Player” of the recently concluded Courts All Sectors Netball League.
England which will feature a squad that is missing some big names due to playing commitments in the ANZ Championships, jumped off their preparations for Australia with a tour of Jamaica earlier this year where they went under in the Tri-Serie, 2-1.
The Sunshine Girls, as Jamaica are known, won the first match, 56-47, but England rebounded for a 55-47 victory, before Jamaica won the third and deciding match 57-47.
For England captain Pamela Cookey, the series against T&T will be a historic one as she is set to receive her 100th cap.
The 30-year-old Surrey Storm goal attack is two games away from the milestone as she prepares for Wednesday's opener in Bath.
“It will mean so much to me after all the hard work I've put in,” she said.
“It's also a thank you to my family and friends, for the sacrifices they've made for me.”
The former Team Bath player who spent six months on the sidelines with an Achilles injury last season, causing her to miss last summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where England failed to win a medal will join a select group to have made 100 appearances for England, with Kendra Slawinski (128) the record holder.
England will also have a new coach on the bench as Anna Mayes has since left her post with former player Tracey Neville, the sister of former Manchester United stars, Gary and Phil Neville, replacing her on an interim basis.
Neville will lead the team for the first time in the forthcoming series—the final warm-up games before this summer's World Cup in Australia.
Following the conclusion of that series, the T&T women will then head to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Netball Europe Ranking Competition and Open Championship, May 14-17 where they come up against the host, Scotland, Wales, England and fellow guest team South Africa.
The quartet of Gibraltar (#34), Ireland (#28), Malta (#36) and Switzerland (#30) will compete in a rankings round-robin tournament.
The Calypso Netballers who won the world title in 1979 jointly with the Australia and New Zealand will come up against the top two teams in the world, host Australia and New Zealand in Pool A as well as Caribbean rivals Barbados in round-robin play in Australia.
Pool B of the 2015 Championship features world third and fourth ranked teams, England and Jamaica as well as Scotland and Samoa, while Malawi, South Africa, Singapore and Sri Lanka comprise Pool C, and the quartet of Fiji, Wales, Uganda and Zambia make up Pool D with the matches carded for the 21,000 seat Allphones Arena (formerly known as the Sydney SuperDome and Acer Arena), Sydney Olympic Park.
Fixtures
England tour
May 6: England v T&T, Sports Training Village, Bath, 7.15 pm
May 8: England v T&T, Copper Box Arena, London, 5.30 pm
May 11: England v T&T, Echo Arena, Liverpool, 7.15 pm
Netball Europe Ranking Competition and Open Championship fixtures
May 14: Gibraltar vs Ireland
T&T vs England
Scotland vs South Africa
Wales vs Northern Ireland
Malta vs Switzerland
England vs South Africa
May 15: Gibraltar vs Malta
Northern Ireland vs Scotland
Wales vs T&T
Ireland vs Switzerland
England vs Scotland
Northern Ireland vs
South Africa
May 16: Ireland vs Malta
Scotland vs T&T
England vs Wales
Switzerland vs Gibraltar
T&T vs Northern Ireland
South Africa vs Wales
May 17: South Africa vs T&T
Scotland vs Wales
Northern Ireland vs England