Vitality Roses: England defeated in final match of Jamaica series

Jess Thirlby's team lose the final Test of the three-match series against Jamaica; the Roses had won the opening two Tests and had secured series prior to Sunday's encounter

Image: England's Vitality Roses were unable to secure a clean sweep of victories against Jamaica

England's Vitality Roses suffered a 63-53 defeat in the final match of the Vitality Roses Reunited series against Jamaica.

The Sunshine Girls, a team who thrive on confidence, enjoyed a positive start to the encounter and that set the tone for their afternoon.

Tenacious work in defence from Shamera Sterling and Kadie-Ann Dehaney disrupted England's changed attacking line-up and helped to create a 32-24 half-time lead.

After the interval, Jess Thirlby continued to amend the Roses' line-up in order to hand court time to her squad members.

England drew the third quarter, however, Jamaica restored their composure in the final 15 minutes and worked hard to get over the line.

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England and Jamaica - Starting Sevens

England Jamaica
GS - Eleanor Cardwell GS - Jhaniele Fowler
GA - Jo Harten GA - Shanice Beckford
WA - Nat Haythornwaite WA - Khadijah Williams
C - Laura Malcolm C - Adean Thomas
WD - Serena Guthrie WD - Latanya Wilson
GD - Layla Guscoth GD - Shamera Sterling
GK - Eboni Usoro-Brown GK - Kadie-Ann Dehaney

Roses head coach Thirlby wanted to come out of this third Test having 'learnt more' about her squad and she made personnel changes throughout in order to do so.

Laura Malcolm came into England's starting seven at centre, while Serena Guthrie shifted back to WD.

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Despite some good early goals, Jamaica started to read England's work in attack too easily and through court, the Roses did not gain as the high number of turnovers as they had during the first two Tests.

In contrast, Jamaica's unit of Latanya Wilson, Sterling, Dehaney snatched a wealth of ball from their hosts and were instrumental in building the Sunshine Girls' 14-11 quarter-time lead.

Helen Housby arrived at GA for second quarter, while Jamaica remained settled other than an earlier switch due to Adean Thomas' ankle injury.

Housby's first involvement was a mid-court interception and although she displayed her trademark accuracy in the circle, England were still unable to truly settle going forwards.

At the other end of the court, Jamaica comfortable delivered their aerial style and duly led by eight at the interval.

England vs Jamaica - Quarter-by-quarter scores

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 FT
England 11 13 16 13 53
Jamaica 14 18 16 15 63

A drawn third quarter got England fans on their feet at the Motorpoint Arena, however, the home side did not carry their momentum into the start of the final 15 minutes.

When they needed to really pressure Jamaica, the Sunshine Girls continued to find a quick route into 6ft 5in shooter Jhaniele Fowler.

Despite the Roses' loss, new partnerships deployed by Thirlby did impress. In particular, George Fisher showed her ability to play at the highest level and her partnership with Helen Housby clicked from the outset.

England's next task will be January's Netball Quad Series and the chance to test themselves against world champions New Zealand, Australia and South Africa at the start of a Commonwealth Games year.

Image: Despite the third-Test loss, England's Vitality Roses celebrated a first series win against Jamaica since 2013

"I don't think that we asserted ourselves defensively early in the game," Thirlby told Sky Sports after the full-time whistle.

"At the same time, we were a little bit hesitant in that attacking end. If you give Jamaica a bit of confidence, then they are always a hard team to beat. We then struggled to get a foothold back into the game.

"As soon as you go down, you're looking for turnover [ball] and I thought they played more like Jamaica and we'd deprived them of being able to do that in the first two matches.

"Whilst it was frustrating, there were huge learnings and that's not a bad place to be at this point.

"We must not forget the style by which we won the series [in game two]. We still managed to get all 12 out on court today and explore some new connections. I thought that the changes, in the main, had great impact which was pleasing."

Netball returns to Sky Sports in January with the Quad Series. The competition starts on January 15, live on Sky Sports.

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