Jamaican goal shooter Romelda Aiken-George taking a shot during the third Test between the Sunshine Girls and England Roses at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Monday.
Marlon Reid
Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls set up a decisive fourth and final Test match against England’s Vitality Roses after producing a nail-biting one-goal win over the current World number two to tie the series at 1-1 at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on Monday.
Entering this game on the back of a 49-49 draw and a 47-55 loss in the first two games of the series at the AO Arena in Manchester, England on November 16 and 17, the Girls were looking for redemption in front of an energetic home crowd.
They used the energy of the vibrant crowd packed into the Sports Centre to jump out to a quick 4-0 lead before the Roses used their physicality to claw their way back into the contest early. The score at the end of the first quarter was 12-10 in favour of the hosts.
England came out firing at the start of quarter number two, however, with three quick goals handing them an early one-point advantage and making it seem like the tide was turning in their favour.
With the home crowd rearing them on, the hosts regained their composure and, through some quick and accurate passing and shooting, re-took the lead at 15-13 with 11 and a half minutes left in the period.
Over the next few minutes, Jamaica continued to build momentum sending the home crowd into a frenzy with a seven to three run to lead 22-16 with six minutes left in the first half.
The two rivals continued to trade buckets for the rest of the second quarter, with England eventually closing the gap to three points at half-time, the Jamaicans leading 26-23.
The second half started like the first, with the hosts extending the lead to 32-25 within the first five minutes of the period.
England stayed strong, however, and, despite some spectacular defensive plays from Jamaica captain Shamera Sterling-Humphrey throughout the rest of the quarter, the gap between the teams heading into the fourth and final stanza was still only three points with Jamaica up 38-35.
The first five minutes of the fourth quarter saw both teams showing why they are so highly ranked globally, producing timely goals and steals throughout. With 10 minutes to go, Jamaica’s lead was just two at 43-41 and the crowd was getting more pensive by the second.
Action continued back and forth and the nerves began to build even more when England made it a one-point game at 47-46 with three minutes to play.
Jamaica hit back, however, with two quick goals to restore the three-goal lead before England, displaying remarkable resilience, hit back once again with two goals of their own to make it a tied game at 49-49 with 50 seconds to play.
That would prove to be the last time England had the ball in their attacking third, however, as the Sunshine Girls strategically passed the ball around for the remaining time before, with one second left, Shanice Beckford hit what proved to be the game-winner, securing a 50-49 win for the hosts and sending the crowd into wild celebrations.
Beckford finished with 19 goals from 23 attempts while goal shooter Romelda Aiken-George had 30 goals from 34 attempts.
For England, Liv Tchine had 26 goals from 27 attempts while Lois Pearson had 18 goals from 21 attempts.
“I’m super happy for this win. Our fans brought us over the line today and we’re very grateful,” said Sunshine Girls captain Shamera Sterling-Humphrey after the game.
“I think we won the game defensively today. We revisited our game plan after the games in England and came back out strong,” she added.
Jamaica head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry praised the performance and poise from her troops.
“I think they were exceptional. I’m quite excited for them. Thy have grown from the second game,” she said.
“Still we have a lot of rough edges that we need to fix but I must commend them. To beat England is a big thing for us right now,” she added.
England coach Jess Thirlby believes early errors cost her team the game in the end.
“I think we made too many errors at the start of the game. Everything we expected from the Sunshine Girls came at us tonight,” she said.
Despite the loss, Thirlby expressed positivity at the way her team played, especially in the final two quarters.
“We drew that third quarter and won the fourth quarter by two. An outstanding performance and huge credit to the Sunshine Girls. In the moments where they needed to be, they were super smart,” she said.
The decisive fourth game of the series will take place at the same venue on Tuesday starting at 7:00pm Jamaica Time.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
West Indies 2025 home Test series against Australia expanded from two to three games
Australia will play three Tests during their 2025 tour of the West Indies after Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) agreed to expand the original schedule of two Test matches which is set to take place in June-July.
The series will be part of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, which asks for a minimum of two Tests between participating teams.
Australia’s previous Test series in the Caribbean took place in 2015, where the Michael Clarke-led side dominated with victories in Dominica and Jamaica. Since then, Australia has toured every Test playing nation except the West Indies.
This upcoming tour will be the first time the teams have played a three-match series in the West Indies since 2012, when Australia secured a 2-0 victory.
The most recent clash between the sides, held in Australia earlier this year, ended in a 1-1 draw. The highlight of the series was West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph’s heroics at the Gabba, where he guided a rare Test win over Australia, breaking a 21-year drought.
After taking a five-wicket haul on debut at the Adelaide Oval, Joseph backed it up with a famous second innings haul of 7-68 in Brisbane to spearhead the tourists to an eight-run win.
While the exact venues are yet to be confirmed, according to ESPNCricinfo reports, Barbados, Grenada, and Jamaica are potential hosts.
The tour will also feature three ODIs and three T20Is. Meanwhile, Australia is eyeing a place in this year’s WTC final at Lord’s and will aim to carry momentum into the next cycle.
For the West Indies, the series is a significant opportunity to play against one of the world’s strongest Test teams on their home turf.
Atkinson and Bethell star as England dominate day two against New Zealand
Gus Atkinson's hat-trick set England on their way to a dominant second day of the second Test with New Zealand in Wellington.
Atkinson took the final three wickets of Nathan Smith, Matt Henry and Tim Southee as the hosts were bowled out for 125, before the tourists' knock of 378-5 put them 533 runs to the good.
The 26-year-old scored the first away hat-trick by an England bowler in 16 years, while it was also the first ever to be recorded at the Basin Reserve.
"The hat-trick ball I was running up thinking: 'I'm getting a wicket this ball, I'm getting a wicket this ball' - I did feel it," he told BBC Sport.
"I haven't really thought about a hat-trick too much before. You want to play to get five-fors as a bowler, you don't think about hat-tricks as much, but getting a hat-trick is special, it's definitely more rare than a five-for.
"It's been a very special year. I'm just looking forward to playing as much Test cricket as I can in the next few years and, hopefully, continuing with the form."
Atkinson's surge left New Zealand 155 runs adrift of England, whose second innings was spearheaded by Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett (92).
Between them, they added 187 for the second wicket, with Bethell (96) narrowly missing out on becoming the tourists' youngest Test centurion since 1939.
Harry Brook chipped in with 55, while Joe Root and Ben Stokes notched unbeaten contributions of 73 and 35 respectively.
That took England to 378-5 at stumps, as they closed in on their first Test series victory in New Zealand for 16 years.
Data Debrief: Hat-trick hero Atkinson joins exclusive group
Atkinson continued his incredible 2024, in which he took 12 wickets on his Test debut against West Indies in July, while notching up a century and five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka the following month.
The first hat-trick in Test cricket since South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj's against West Indies in 2021, it is the 14th recorded by an Englishman.
Atkinson also joined Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali and Johnny Briggs as the only England players to score a Test century and hat-trick.
England became the first nation to score 500,000 Test runs during day two, while Root passed 50 for the 100th time at this level.
Holmwood Technical completes ISSA rural area Netball double; St. Catherine, Wolmer’s Girls win urban area titles
Defending all-island champions Holmwood Technical retained their ISSA rural area Under-19 netball title with a 38-30 victory over Denbigh High in Thursday's decider at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
The May Pen-based won the first quarter 9-8 before the defending champions rallied to lead 15-14 at the half and 37-24 at the end of the third quarter.
The victory for Holmwood completed the double on the day as their Under-16 team had earlier secured the crown with a 21-16 win in an all-Manchester affair over defending champions Manchester High in a repeat of last year's final.
In the urban area final, St Catherine High captured their third straight Under-19 title with a 32-24 win over The Queen's School. The St John's Road-based school led all quarters 11-3, 20-12 and 23-16.
Meanwhile, Wolmer's Girls took the Under-16 crown after beating St Hugh's 27-21 in their decider.
Manchester High defeated Glenmuir 46-44 to claim third place in the rural area Under-19 category while Mile Gully High claimed third in the Under-16 category with a 32-17 win over Titchfield.
In the urban area, Gaynstead High claimed third in both the Under-19 and Under-16 categories with wins over St. Catherine High and Camperdown High, respectively.
They beat St. Catherine 34-19 and Camperdown 37-23.
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