Netball: England's Sara Bayman ready for hard-hitting Australia
Friday 8 January 2016 11:57, UK
England Netball play Commonwealth and world champions Australia in a Test Series this January, and Roses captain Sara Bayman says the squad are ready to give as good as the get from their fierce rivals.
Under head coach Tracey Neville, England come up against the Aussie Diamonds in a trio of matches, shown live on Sky Sports as part of Netball Month, which celebrates the start of the new season.
Australia are the No 1 ranked side in the world, but Bayman insists England are ready for the challenge.
"In order to beat Australia you literally have to treat them like any other team," the Manchester Thunder midcourter told Sky Sports.
"You've got to give them respect for what they've achieved and how good they are, but you can't go on there all fearful and give them too much."
Australia are admired for their physical presence on court, incredible work ethic and team spirit; all key components in their dominance of international netball for the last three years.
Their coach Lisa Alexander has decided to rest many of their most famous faces including captain Laura Geitz for this series, but will bring exciting talents April Brandley (nee Letton), Gabi Simpson, Jo Weston and Gretel Tippett to English shores, meaning the task gets no easier for England.
"We've said previously that we've got to be willing to work harder than we've ever worked before in these games," Bayman says.
"In 2013, when we won the series, there was all sorts of shots being fired about who was the more physical team. But it's something you've got to match Australia with, you can't allow them to bully you and you've got to be prepared for what's coming.
"You go in their not thinking too much about what they're going to do but you need to be ready because they're going to hit hard and they're going to run fast at you.
"There's a mental approach of saying 'this is our home court, if you're going to take this game you're going to have to earn it, we're not going to give it to you'."
England too are missing some of their stars for the series, with the likes of Joanne Harten, Serena Guthrie and Geva Mentor choosing to take a break from international duty on a non-championship year. And with household names like Pamela Cookey and Tamsin Greenway retiring in 2015, this new-look England squad face an eye-opening encounter against the Diamonds.
Bayman insists that the senior players, including herself, will need to support the less experienced players on and off the court if they are to get a result.
"You've got to try and give people that encouragement during the game and make sure everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet, but off the court is the danger area," she added.
"As a young player you can get stuck in your own head and worry about things too much and overthink your performance. It's important for the older players among us to make them feel at ease and treat this as just another game."
Watch England take on Australia live on Sky Sports this January:
Match 1 - Wednesday 20th January, Echo Arena Liverpool, 7pm live on Sky Sports 1
Match 2 - Friday 22nd January, Copper Box Arena London, 7pm live on Sky Sports 1
Match 3 - Sunday 24th January, Copper Box Arena London, 6pm live on Sky Sports 3
And don't miss the start of the 2016 Vitality Netball Superleague season, it kicks off live on Sky Sports on January 30 with eight hours of live Netball on Super Saturday.
