Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls rallied from six goals down at halftime to secure a dramatic 49-49 draw with England’s Roses in a nail-biting opening contest of their four-game Horizon Netball Series at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday.

Latanya Wilson, showcasing her versatility and tenacity at wing defence, earned the Player of the Game award for her outstanding performance, which included critical interceptions and relentless pressure on England’s attackers.

While proud of her team’s effort, Wilson, who represents Adelaide Thunderbirds in Australia’s Suncorp League, acknowledged that they had much work to do, especially with this being their first international outing since last year’s Netball World Cup.

“I think it was pretty much a close game; we knew that we were in it, and we came to win it, so I am proud of myself and the team’s effort to at least draw the game, so well done to us. So I am very pleased, but there is a lot more work to get done, and we are going to do things step-by-step, and we are going to give it our all,” Wilson said in a post-game interview.

Jamaica's Latanya Wilson tries to disrupt England's play.

The match began with both teams showing flashes of brilliance but also committing early turnovers. England’s match-fitness from their recent series win over New Zealand—to move to number two on the ranking chart—was evident as they displayed better composure and consistency for the most parts.

Still, the Jamaicans, who won bronze at last year’s Netball World Cup, did well to disrupt England’s fluency in patches but struggled to capitalize on opportunities as both teams ended the first quarter locked at 13-13.

Abigale Sutherland replaced Crystal Plummer at centre for Jamaica at the start of the second quarter, but an early turnover from their centre pass set the tone for a challenging period.

England, bolstered by sharp passing and disciplined shooting from Helen Housby, took charge of the contest in the second quarter as they outscored the Jamaicans 13-7.

The hosts were also aided by tidy defensive work from Imogen Allison and Funmi Fadoju, who were effective against the towering Romelda Aiken-George in the shooting circle for Jamaica.

In fact, England-born Rhea Dixon’s introduction at wing attack provided some creativity for Jamaica, but their inconsistency allowed England to maintain control for much of the quarter, and they opened up a six-goal lead, 26-20 at the interval.

Jamaica's Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and England's Olivia Tchine challenge for possession. (Photo: Skysports)

Jamaica came out spiritedly in the third quarter, forcing a few turnovers, but in the same push, returned possession by virtue of unforced errors. England capitalized and extended their lead to eight goals. 

However, the Sunshine Girls gradually found their rhythm and rallied to cut the deficit. By the five-minute mark, they trailed by just one goal, 33-32, but missed opportunities kept England in the driver’s seat, as the Roses again pulled away to lead 38-35 entering the final quarter.

Jamaica knew they needed a flawless fourth quarter to mount a comeback, and they responded with resilience. They leveled the score at 39-39 with over 11 minutes left and ignited a thrilling end-to-end battle.

The Sunshine Girls surged ahead 44-42 with less than eight minutes to play, but a sloppy centre pass allowed England to claw their way back.

A crucial offside turnover by Jamaica with less than three minutes remaining presented a chance to seal the game, but the opportunity went begging and England capitalized to go up 49-47 with less than a minute remaining.

Just when it seemed as England had the first win in the bag, up came Jamaica’s ever-reliable goalkeeper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey to snatch possession from Lois Pearson in the dying seconds.

Though Aiken-George missed her two attempts, goal attack Shanice Beckford showed steely nerves to secure the dramatic equalizer. 

Sunshine Girls head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry praised her team’s determination but stressed the need for improved consistency.

“We showed great heart today. I think the first time playing in 15 months is really a big thing for us as it starts our journey (to the next World Cup), so I am quite pleased with what we saw. We still have some rough edges to fix, but England gave us a fair contest; we knew they were going to come hard, and I am glad that our girls stood tall to the task,” Henry said.

With the series finely balanced, both teams will head into Sunday’s second game with renewed determination, eager to gain the upper hand ahead of the Jamaican leg scheduled for November 25 and 26. 

Sunday’s game is set for 9:00 am Jamaica time.

NB: The Horizon Netball Series can be seen live on SportsMax and the SportsMax app.

Despite the fact that West Coast Fever suffered a tough round nine loss to Adelaide Thunderbirds, Jamaica’s Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard remains atop the Nissan Net Points tally, with her compatriots Romelda Aiken-George, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and Latanya Wilson also in pole across other categories.

With 959.5 Net Points to her credit, Fowler-Nembhard is well over 100 points ahead of Sunshine Coast Lightning’s Liz Watson (809.5 points), with Sterling-Humphrey (780 points) in third.

Fowler-Nembhard also has a strangle hold on the goals and attempts leaderboards, with 494 goals and 514 attempts. She has Australian goal shooters Donnell Wallam (378 goals and 440 attempts), Sophie Garbin (363 goals and 413 attempts), and Cara Koenen (340 goals and 376 attempts) keeping close company. Aiken-George is fifth on both standings with 306 goals and 353 attempts.

However, Aiken-George continues to lead the offensive rebounds ladder with 43, ahead of Garbin (37), Koenen (33), Wallam (30), and Fowler-Nembhard (25).

A massive week from Wilson ensured the Sunshine Girl retains pole position on the intercepts ladder, as her tally of 33 now pushed her five ahead of teammate Sterling-Humphrey (28).

Still, Sterling-Humphrey has a firm grip on the deflections leaderboard (62) and defensive rebounds (22), both marginally ahead of Ash Ervin, who has 53 deflections and 18 defensive rebounds. Wilson (49) is third on the deflections ladder.

Meanwhile, despite another Swifts loss, Helen Housby’s willingness to shoot from range has not stopped. She is still leading the Suncorp Super Shots (53) and attempts (81) categories, while Liz Watson has continued her midcourt dominance, with 232 goal assists to her name to go with her 236 centre pass receives.

Jamaican defender Latanya Wilson, produced a Player of the Match performance in her 50th national league game to assist Adelaide Thunderbirds to a comfortable 58-33 win over New South Wales Swifts in a lopsided affair at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday.

The contest, which was a repeat of last year’s grand final, was expected to be just a fierce, but Wilson and her Thunderbirds teammates were in a no-nonsense mood, as they won all but one quarter of the encounter to bounce back from last week's nail-biting one-goal loss to West Coast Fever.

Wilson, 23, notched up 118.5 Nissan Net Points thanks to four intercepts, seven deflections and nine pick-ups in a performance that matches her milestone.

“It feels so amazing. What a milestone. It is such a great feeling and I am so happy we got the win. We are evolving and we are hunting something new, whatever that looks like, I am so happy that I am a part of this great team,” a beaming Wilson said in a post-game interview.

While the wing defence did her part along with compatriot and goalkeeper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, who had five deflections and three intercepts, another Jamaican Romelda Aiken-George led the Thunderbirds attack with 30 goals from 32 attempts.

Lucy Austin (12 goals from 12 attempts), Georgie Horjus (nine goals from 10 attempts), and Lauren Frew (seven goals from nine attempts), contributed the others.

Wilson was on song in the Thunderbirds defence.

Meanwhile, the Swifts, who were off beat all-around, got most goals from Sophie Fawns (16 goals from 19 attempts). Helen Housby (10 goals from 14 attempts), Trinidad and Tobago’s Samantha Wallace-Joseph (five goals from seven attempts) and Grace Whyte (two goals from four attempts), got the others.

Aside from the opening quarter in which they came out strong and secured a 13-12 lead over the Thunderbirds, the Swifts struggled to maintain momentum throughout.

In fact, they made a number of errors in the second quarter that shifted things in favour of the Thunderbirds, who capitalised and won the quarter 11-7 to overtake the lead at 23-20 at the half-time interval.

Wallace-Joseph finally entered the court for the Swifts to start the third quarter which meant Housby moved back into her preferred position of goal attack, but the move proved futile.

While both teams made some uncharacteristic errors, the Thunderbirds recovered best and later asserted their authority on the contest in what turned out to be a match-winning third quarter.

Sterling-Humphrey made her presence felt and picked up a flying intercept, after which, Wilson took the mantle to shut out the Swifts, as they ended the quarter 13 goals up at 41-28.

Faced with the huge deficit, it was crucial for the Swifts to come out firing in the fourth quarter - and they did for the most part, but another intercept from Sterling-Humphrey prevented them from scoring.

From there, the Swifts racked up penalties and turnovers, while missing six of their 11 attempts, as Thunderbirds effortlessly took the quarter 17-5 to complete the 25-goal rout.

Australia’s cricketers have thrown their weight behind the country’s netballers, creating a “fighting fund” to help them through a pay dispute with their governing body.

Australia’s Diamonds captured the Netball World Cup in August amid a background of disharmony and Super Netball players have been out of contract since September 30.

Now the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), which represents the country’s male and female cricketers, has vowed to support the netballers in their quest for a revenue-sharing model.

The support includes the creation of the fund to help netballers during the spell of unemployment and the ACA said it is in talks with the Australian Athletes’ Alliance and other player associations to join the initiative.

ACA chief executive Todd Greenberg pledged to stand with the netballers until their campaign is successful and called on Netball Australia to develop a long-term growth model with a partnership model akin to the five-year deal the cricketers have negotiated with Cricket Australia.

Describing the revenue-sharing model as a “win-win”, he said: “The netballers are leaning on friends and family for financial support.

“What is disappointing is that the netballers’ requests are modest and affordable for the sport.

“The ACA believes they should be given the same partnership opportunities as our players – the same opportunities that have seen cricket thrive.”

Australia are in their midst of the four-match Constellation Cup series against local rivals New Zealand, winning the first two matches on home soil despite continuing turmoil between the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA) and Netball Australia.

ANPA chief executive Kathryn Harby-Williams said: “Australian netballers are brave and resilient people. When your minimum wage is 40,000 dollars (£20,940) you have to show a lot of courage to take a stand.

“That’s why this expression of support is so welcome. It lets the netballers know they are not alone.”

Netball Australia said its latest offer, rejected by the ANPA, would increase investment by 1.275 million dollars (£670,000).

The ANPA said the players wanted a revenue-sharing agreement and said “we’d like to share in the good times we help build and we will share in the risk when times are tough”.

England forwards Helen Housby and Eleanor Cardwell, part of the team beaten in the World Cup final, are among those unable to sign new contracts for the next Super Netball season.

Jhaniele Fowler scored 57 goals as Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls defeated England’s Roses 63-53 for a consolation victory in the England Roses Vitality Series that concluded on Sunday.