It’s a busy start to 2010 for the England netball team as they take on Australia in the Cooperative International Netball series in February. The world’s number one side bring a young squad to test themselves against the best England have to offer, playing 3 matches over 6 days. The series takes place between the 19th and 23rd of February starting at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, then onto the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, with a final match at London’s infamous O2 Arena.
The England team will be keen for revenge after October’s match up against Australia and New Zealand in Bath. Two close matches saw England unable to find a winning formula against either team, losing 55-44 to the Australians and 65-59 to the Silver Ferns. These internationals came straight after the Cooperative World Netball Series when England started brilliantly but couldn’t carry their impressive early form though to finals day, eventually finishing a respectable but nonetheless disappointing 4th behind the overall winners New Zealand. England started the World Series looking every bit the form team, adapting to the Fast Net rules with ease and making effective use of Power Plays, rolling subs and the chance to shoot from outside the circle for the first time. However, the two matches played on finals day saw England’s worst day of the tournament with 2 defeats from two starts.
But that’s all in the past. The coming test series is expected to be fiercely competitive, something that both the England players and fans will relish. England Goal Attack, Pamela Cookey said “I’m really looking forward to it and I know we can produce a great result in this series. The win against Australia in the October World Series has shown that we can compete with, and beat, the highest ranked team in the world and we hope to capitalise on that. Bring the series home!”
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It will be a really good test to see how far we have come
Jo Binns, Former England International shared her views with intosport.com about the upcoming series too. “This coming test series will be particularly exciting as the opportunity for the National Squad to make a mark on the international stage is huge. Not only are the National Squad well prepared, with many members having recently played tightly contested matches in the Cooperative Netball Superleague, the England squad have also built on some well established partnerships which will contest very strongly against a particularly young touring Australian side”
England’s Head Coach, the Australian Sue Hakwins has named a strong England squad:
Karen Atkinson – Co-Captain
Sonia Mkoloma – Co-Captain
Sara Bayman
Eboni Beckford-Chambers
Louisa Brownfield
Jade Clarke
Pamela Cookey
Rachel Dunn
Stacey Francis
Tamsin Greenway
Jo Harten
Geva Mentor
Hawkins said “The game is all about getting belief ahead of the Commonwealth Games because it will be our last chance to face them before then. It will be a really good test to see how far we have come....there has been real improvement in the last two years with the girls. The international game is 50% mental and 50% physical. We are now challenging every position above us.”
Fighting talk, we like it. Want to see this renewed England team in action and lend your support? Find out more here...
England Netball Internationals