Sat | Dec 28, 2024

Execution key for England series – Fowler

Published:Tuesday | November 9, 2021 | 12:10 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s Goal Shooter, Jhaniele Fowler (right), takes a shot as England’s Goal Keeper, Razia Quashie (centre) and Goal Defence, Layla Guscoth, look on during their encounter at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
Jamaica’s Goal Shooter, Jhaniele Fowler (right), takes a shot as England’s Goal Keeper, Razia Quashie (centre) and Goal Defence, Layla Guscoth, look on during their encounter at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

WITH JAMAICA’S Sunshine Girls’ three-Test series against England starting in a little over two weeks, senior team netball captain Jhaniele Fowler says the execution of team plans drafted by coach Connie Francis will be key to their success.

The series is scheduled to get underway on November 28 at the Copper Box Arena in London, with the second and third games scheduled for December 4 and 5, respectively, at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.

The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world – one place below their English counterparts – will head into the series on the back of their 3-0 series win over Caribbean arch-rivals Trinidad and Tobago.

They also defeated a Jamaican male team in a very competitive match, which was streamed live around the world.

Fowler said they gained a lot of practice from these matches and the Girls are now looking to put on a good showing in England.

“We just have to stay disciplined to what coach Connie (Francis) has been teaching us and stay disciplined for ourselves when we get out there on court, and execute the game that she has set out for us,” said Fowler.

“We are going to go over there and execute well because we have been putting out a lot of work in training, especially in our skill areas,” she said.

“We have gained a lot of confidence from the Trinidad and Tobago series, even though we are above them. But, based on how we execute, we gained a lot of confidence,” Fowler stated.

FEELING CONFIDENT

The vastly experienced Fowler, who is rated as the best goal shooter in the world, cautioned that they are expecting a very challenging series from the English girls but, based on their preparation and experience, she is confident of a good showing from her team.

“I know that England is going to come really hard at us because they are a lot more game-ready than us and they have played a lot more series than us,” said Fowler. “But we have been practising against the male team, who really gave us great challenges to prepare us for this series.

“It’s definitely going to be a tough series, but we have come up against them and we have beaten them before. So it shouldn’t be anything different because we have a good bunch of girls going over to England. So I have a lot of confidence in this squad,” said Fowler.

Meanwhile Netball Jamaica is expected to name their squad for the series this afternoon.

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