Members of the England netball team arrive in Jamaica yesterday for their three-Test series against the hosts, which begins on Monday at the National Indoor Centre. - Photo by Robert Bailey

A CONFIDENT 12-member England netball squad arrived in the island yesterday for a three-Test series against Jamaica's Sunshine Girls.

In their last competitive series in May, England stunned world champions New Zealand 50-45 before going down to Australia in the tri-nations fixture at home.

England have retained nine members from last year's Commonwealth Games' bronze medal team, including captain Amanda Newton.

The first Test of the series against Jamaica is set for Monday, the second is on Wednesday and the third on Thursday. It will be the final warm-ups for both teams before the World Championships, which begin in New Zealand on November 10. When the teams last met, England defeated Jamaica 53-52 to take the bronze medal in Melbourne.

Competitive series

According to England coach Margaret Caldow, who is making her fourth trip to the island in that position, she is expecting a competitive series.

"We are going to play some world-class netball and expect to have a good contest against the Jamaicans," said Caldow. "I know that they have been working extremely hard and are looking forward to performing well against us, as we are against them.

"We have always had good contests against each other and I don't see this one being any different, We have just come off a five-week layoff. We also had a visit to Australia in June and had some practice matches down there.

"We have been back on the court for a month, so we are looking forward to this visit to really get some tough competition leading into the World Championships."

- R. B.