After two exciting encounters at the AO Arena in Manchester, Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls and England’s Vitality Roses are now in Kingston for the second leg of the four-match Horizon Series.

With England leading the series 1-0, after topping game two 56-47, while the game one ended in a draw, the decisive third and fourth games scheduled for November 25 and 26 at the National Indoor Sports Centre promises to keep spectators at the edge of their seats.

In fact, with the games set to be the Sunshine Girls’ first encounter at home in a long time, Head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry is optimistic that they can deliver two top performances to treat local fans.

“I think we did great as a team and we should be proud of our achievements, maybe the last result was not we what we wanted but it’s something that we have to work through and try to come the last two games and improve on our performance” Henry said shortly after arriving at the Norman Manley International Airport on Monday.

Henry believes her number four-ranked Sunshine Girls possesses enough quality to top their number two-ranked opponents, but in the same breath, pointed out that it is easier said than done.

“It is going to be two keenly contested games. It’s going to be competitive. We have to respect England and their second place in the world and we are number four. It all comes down to being disciplined, being precise in our movements and to improve on our weaknesses that we had. We have to limit our turn overs and capitalize on their strengths so it’s something that we have to work on,” Henry noted.

First time captain Shamera Sterling-Humphrey was also optimistic about the team’s chances against the Vitality Roses.

“I feel like once we can fix what needs to be fixed in the three ends of our court –the mid court, the shooting and the defence –then I think Jamaica can get the two wins.” Sterling-Humphrey shared.

 Her counterpart Fran Williams was happy to be in Jamaica for the first time to compete against the Sunshine Girls as she also declared high expectations for the two matches.

“We are so excited to be here and it’s amazing to get to travel and get to play in other countries and explore new places. We’ve had such a good start to the series with two really close matches including a draw so it’s going to be exciting on Monday and Tuesday next week,” Williams beamed.

Meanwhile, England’s coach Jess Thirlby echoed similar sentiments.

“We know that this is going to be a really tough ask coming out to Jamaica but we know we are on the hunt for one more win to try and take that series. Our expectations of ourselves re high but the Jamaica Sunshine Girls have got some if not a lot of world class girls in that side,” Thirlby stated.

Game time 6:30pm on Monday, and 7:00pm on Tuesday.

NB: The Horizon Netball series can be seen live on SportsMax and the SportsMax App.

West Coast Fever has retained premiership stars Jess Anstiss and Alice Teague-Neeld for three Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) League seasons, as well as Sunday Aryang and Jhaniele Fowler for a further two seasons.

The Club has added the experience Kelsey Browne in the mid-court for season 2024, while the arrivals of England Roses captain Fran Williams, and former Sunshine Coast Lightning player Kadie-Ann Dehaney will bolster the defence.

The future is bright for Fever with the signing of young guns Jordan Cransberg and Olivia Wilkinson for three years each, while the addition of Sunshine Girls goal-attack Shanice Beckford, is also expected to add impetus to the Perth-based club's charge.

Head Coach Dan Ryan said the Green Army should be excited about the familiar faces returning combined with the fresh injection of x-factor players.

“I’m so excited about what this team can become, and our mission is going to be to become the best team we possibly can be. All 10 players contributing, playing a role, using their skillsets and weapons to help get us across the line,” Ryan said.

“It’s going to be ferocious West Coast Fever like always, but we are going to look a little bit different and that’s what I’m really excited by," he added.

Ryan said the Club had a clear strategy during recruitment to ensure the team was very versatile. 

“I think the most important thing to take out of last season is that it really does take a full team of 10 to win the competition, which is what we saw from the Thunderbirds and Swifts,” he said.

“We’ve got a really deep squad. We’ve got positional coverage in every single position on the court, and we can roll the subs in any position without having to make too many shuffles across the court.

“I’m excited by enough continuity that we can keep doing what we’re doing that’s seen us be successful over the past couple of years.

“But we also have some really new, exciting players coming into our line-up that can make us change the game, shift our game plan, shift our strategies and that unpredictable nature is going to be a bit of a competitive edge for us.”

West Coast Fever will officially commence pre-season training in the new year. 

Fran Williams admitted being asked to be captain of the England team for their upcoming series against South Africa came “a bit out of the blue” as preparations continued for the opening game on Tuesday.

The Loughborough Lightning player will lead the Vitality Roses in their tri-series against the SPAR Proteas, which begins on December 5 in Manchester followed by two games on December 9 and 10 in Nottingham.

Working in a wider leadership group alongside Eleanor Cardwell and Imogen Allison, Williams will lead the team for the first time and revealed that while receiving the captaincy was unexpected, she was looking forward to the opportunity.

“(It was) a bit out of the blue, I was having a catch-up meeting with Jess (Thirlby) our head coach about something completely separate and not relevant to leadership roles and captaincy,” Williams told the PA news agency.

“Then at the end of the meeting she asked if I’d want to be captain, if I’d take on that honour and I said ‘I don’t have to think about it, I’d love to do that opportunity’.

“Then I walked away and thought ‘gosh that’s actually a big deal, maybe I should have thought about this a bit more!’.

“There’s nothing better than being able to represent the team and it’s just such an easy role to take on when you’ve got a group and a squad like we have who are so willing to get stuck in, always seeing the positives, want to jump on board and get involved in as much as possible.”

December’s fixtures will be England’s first games back on home turf since winning silver at the Netball World Cup over the summer, where they fell to a 61-45 defeat against Australia in the final.

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Williams played a pivotal part in the tournament, providing a vital interception in the dying minutes of their semi-final against reigning champions New Zealand and reflected on a “history-making moment” reaching the final.

“I think at the time and in that moment of the final it was obviously devastating,” Williams said.

“To lose against Australia particularly when – bearing in mind it was a tight game – we’d beaten them only a few days before.

“However, when I look back now, I have nothing but pride for the way we performed this summer as a Roses squad. Not just players but all the staff and the journey we’d been on to reaching that historic final and getting our first-ever silver medal at a Netball World Cup, it was still a history-making moment.

“Not just the final result but also the memories I have with that team. Not just in the prep camp before, but the years before leading to us being able to do that is what I’ll take away from the experience the most.

“It’s so exciting to see where we could end up in four years’ time. Now I’ve got that springboard and motivation from being that close in the summer to really want to go for it those next four years.”

There are plenty of new faces in the Roses squad for the South Africa series with five players preparing to make their home international debuts and Williams was looking forward to the “new opportunities ahead”.

She added: “We’ve got a fresh-looking squad, new opportunities lying ahead and whilst it’s so important we carry those stories and lessons learned from the summer and make sure we’re all on the same page and everyone – even if you weren’t there – gets to learn from what worked well in the summer to get to that point and what we could do better to get us over the line in that final in four years’ time.

“There’s also the opportunity to create our own memories and our own history with a new squad.”