Sunshine Girls eye NZ series
Published:Thursday | March 11, 2021 | 12:23 AM
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With over a year to go before the start of the Commonwealth Games, president of Netball Jamaica (NJ) Tricia Robinson, said her association is leaving nothing to chance and recently began discussions with one of the top two ranked teams in the world...
With over a year to go before the start of the Commonwealth Games, president of Netball Jamaica (NJ) Tricia Robinson, said her association is leaving nothing to chance and recently began discussions with one of the top two ranked teams in the world for a friendly series.
Robinson declined to confirm the identity of the team, citing that they are still in the early stages of negotiations, however, The Gleaner has been reliably informed that world champions and current world number-two-ranked outfit New Zealand, is the team being targeted by NJ for a three-Test series, which will be played in 2022 in Jamaica.
“It is important to play the top teams to position yourself for that number one position in the world and that is what we are aiming for right now,” said Robinson. “We would love to have a series with either of them (New Zealand or world number-two ranked Australia), and so we have been working towards that.”
“It is always good to play on home soi,l and once we get this opportunity,, then we would definitely like it to be here in Jamaica in 2022,” Robinson added.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham, England, from July 28 to August 8.
MORE THAN A YEAR DORMANT
The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, have not played a competitive series in more than a year. NJ recently announced that the Jamaicans will tackle South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in the Tri-nation series in October.
Robinson underscored that the Sunshine Girls are eager to return to the courts, but the recent spike in COVID-19 cases now means that they had to adjust their return schedule.
“The girls are currently training virtually, but in terms of being on court,, we are not expecting that before April,” she stated. “However, what is very critical for us is the decline in the COVID-19 numbers and so we are watching that and hoping that the numbers will go down very quickly so that we can return to the training courts.”