Sara Bayman is an England international currently preparing for the Commonwealth games next month. She has previously captained the under 21’s England team, as well as starring for Team Bath in the SuperLeague.
Writing exclusively for intosport.com, Sara gives will be blogging throughout the Games in Delhi. As part of her preparation, Sara previews the tournament- and the teams that stand in the way of Team England bringing home the gold medal…
The countdown is now on. Fifteen days until we’ll be on a plane to Delhi. Twenty days to the opening ceremony. Three short weeks to the start of the 2010 Commonwealth Games netball competition. And if this year’s international fixtures are anything to go by, it’ll be the best yet.
Two groups of six make up the ‘round robin’ competition. Australia (ranked number one in the world) and Jamaica (ranked 4th) are drawn alongside the hosts India, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the exciting Malawians.
New Zealand (ranked 2nd) and England (ranked 3rd) have Papua New Guinea, The Cook Islands, Barbados and South Africa in our group. The top two teams from each group will cross over to make up the semis, while the other team’s play-off for lower placings and vital world-ranking points.
Whilst most people will expect the world’s top four sides to qualify for the semis, the final medal placings are really anyone’s guess this time round.
The trans-Tasman rivalry continues to burn strongly as New Zealand’s nineteen goal demolition of Australia was sandwiched by two losses to their archrivals in the recent three test series.
However, the dominance once enjoyed by the Southern hemisphere teams is no longer present, and they will be looking at Jamaica and England as very real threats for the gold medal.
Although both Australia and New Zealand had comfortable series wins over Jamaica in July, they will be keenly aware that the Sunshine girls were severely under-strength. The final selection of the Jamaican squad always provides a few surprises as players return from scholarships in the USA to play at major championships.
As for England, we travelled to Jamaica last month to play two tests against, what I assume to be, their first choice squad. An eleven goal win followed by a seven goal loss would indicate that we are still very closely matched with what have traditionally been our bronze medal rivals. Things have changed though. Both teams are better than they have been previously, but we know we could, and should have won that series 2-0. Let there be no mistake about it, we are going to Delhi to win the gold medal.
In the past few years we have beaten all the top nations. The confidence and belief gained from breaking such hoodoos (it had been over thirty years since the last time we previously beat either Australia or New Zealand) has really galvanized the squad.
An even stronger motivator may be the near losses, the ones that got away, the wrongs that need to be put right. The final test against Australia at the 02 in February springs to mind (probably because it’s the most painful) although the second test in Jamaica also falls into this category, which can be rounded off by the extra-time gut-wrencher against New Zealand last October.
I believe revenge is a dish best served with a bit of Indian spice.
So bring on the colour, vibrancy and excitement of India, but more importantly bring on the fast, frantic and unpredictable tournament that is going to be the 2010 Commonwealth games netball competition. Don’t forget to check intosport.com for my blog during the competition.
Set your video and Sky plus because you’re not going to want to miss this!
Sara Bayman