National netball captain Rhonda John-Davis and her teammates will leave today a confident bunch as they head off to Wales for their final phase of preparation ahead of the Netball World Cup in England from July 12-21.
“The players are ready and rearing to go,” said John-Davis, yesterday. “We are really looking forward to playing international games in Wales.”
T&T netballers will engage in warm-up matches against Northern Ireland on July 6 and host Wales on July 7, both at the Viola Arena (formerly Ice Arena Wales), before moving to the Sport Wales National Centre for a clash with Malawi on July 8.
John-Davis will set a world record for the number of World Cup appearances when she takes the court in Liverpool. The centre-court player has played at five World Cups including 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, making Liverpool her sixth.
She will use that experience to lead the Wesley “Pepe” Gomes-coached national team, who was joint-winners in 1979 on home soil with New Zealand and Australia, as she did on Friday when the “Calypso Girls” had a successful run against a men’s team in their final warm-up match on home soil.
“We have used the men to practice against and they helped us with our preparation,” said John-Davis, who will be using the upcoming match as a gauge to her team’s preparedness for the Cup. “The international games will give us a feel of where we are at and what we need to do before the 12th.”
T&T opens its campaign against South Africa on July 12 followed by a Caribbean showdown against the Jamaica “Sunshine Girls” on July 13 and Fiji on July 14 in their Pool C round-robin encounters at the M&S Bank Arena in the 16-team World competition.
Meanwhile, in the latest International Netball Federation (INF) rankings released yesterday, T&T remains in 10th place ahead of the World event.
Inclusive of matches up to June 30, Australia maintains the lead in first place and Jamaica overtook England to claim second place.
