England got off to the best possible start at Netball Europe today as they claimed convincing 63-42 and 69-33 victories over Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa respectively.
Although England do not get their official Netball Europe campaign underway until tomorrow, they arguably had their toughest day of the tournament today.
Each team will have to play two fixtures in one day over the course of the competition and for England they had to face the two invited nations on day one.
As invited nations, the visiting teams from the Caribbean and Africa are not able to compete for the Netball Europe title but the fixtures against them are played for official world ranking points, so a lot was at stake.
England 63-42 Trinidad & Tobago
It was a case of new location, same enemy for England in their opening clash. Trinidad & Tobago started with the same seven that played in Liverpool on Monday while Tracey Neville made a couple of changes with Sam Cook and Layla Guscoth forming a young defensive unit.
Having missed out on the International Series, Tamsin Greenway was given the chance to impress at WA while Sasha Corbin earned her 50th England cap after being selected at C.
A strong start to the match saw the ladies in red pull clear of the Calypso Girls at the end of the opening quarter. Cook was impressing at GK and Laura Malcolm was linking the play brilliantly in the mid-court from her WD position.
A 17-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter was expected to be built upon but Trinidad & Tobago hit back. Despite Sally Butters earning her debut cap after being introduced for the second quarter, the England attack failed to capitalise on opportunities and the lead slipped to 28-20 at the break.
That signalled a flurry of changes for the third quarter as Pamela Cookey, Sara Bayman and Stacey Francis were brought into the action. The impact from Francis was instant as she upped the intensity and had England on the front foot again.
Cookey and Rachel Dunn were combining brilliantly in the attacking third and England moved 47-32 ahead with fifteen minutes to go. Sonia Mkoloma came on in the final quarter as the whole squad of twelve was given court time.
England remained in control and despite an increasing number of penalties slowing the play, it was to be a fourth win a row over Trinidad & Tobago.
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England 69-33 South Africa
With just enough time for a quick breather, England were back on court at 6:30pm to take on South Africa. The tough Proteas side are ranked sixth in the world and, with a victory over England in 2013, a victory would have to be earned.
Changes were made to the starting line-up from the earlier encounter as Sonia Mkoloma, Stacey Francis, Sara Bayman and Pamela Cookey were all awarded a starting berth.
Fabulous attacking work between Tamsin Greenway, Helen Housby and Cookey moved England into a strong 18-9 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
At the other end, Mkoloma and Francis were imposing themselves and forcing errors from South Africa as the ladies in red moved 33-15 clear at half-time.
The same seven remained on court for the third quarter but it was a change up in the Proteas side that altered the tempo of the game. Suddenly it was South Africa forcing the errors as they remained on centre-pass for the majority of the quarter.
However, as the quarter entered its closing stages, the intensity started to fade and England went on the attack. A wonderful run of goals completely took the game away from their opponents and England headed into the final fifteen minutes with a 47-24 advantage.
For the fourth quarter, Layla Guscoth and Rachel Dunn were introduced. With an earlier match against Scotland behind them, the Proteas started to tire and England were able to capitalise.
Sara Bayman started to pull the strings in the final third with a flurry of exceptional feeds into the circle. Dunn and Housby were displaying fantastic movement to create space and wrap up a one-sided victory.
