Australia goal attack Sharelle McMahon fights for possesion with Jamaica goal defence Kacey Evering during game three of the Supreme Ventures Sunshine series at the National Indoor Sports Centre yesterday. Jamaica won the match 54-51. -
Ricardo Makyn

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Buoyed by last night's impressive 54-51 win over world number one-ranked Australia in their third and final match of the Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series inside the National Indoor Sports Centre, Sunshine Girls captain Simone Forbes is confident that her team can repeat the act later this year at the World Netball Championships (WNC) in Singapore.

The result ensured that the Sunshine Girls tied the series 1-1 after Friday's 49-49 tie and last Wednesday's heavy 51-63 loss in the series opener.

Forbes, like the rest of her team-mates, was on fire last night, knocking down 19 goals from 21 attempts in tandem with Romelda Aiken (33 goals from 35 attempts), as the two helped to power the Jamaicans to their seventh win over the Aussies.

"It certainly does," Forbes beamed when asked whether or not the win adds value to the team's self-belief ahead of the July 3-10 tournament.

"This is all in preparation for the big hurrah and this is a good start. We wanted a win from the series but a draw is better than a loss and I'm really happy for that."

Forbes pointed out that the team identified that they had to make changes after the blowout in the first game and credited a total team effort for the turnaround.

"We knew after the first game that something had to change, we couldn't continue the way we had been playing and I had all confidence in the team," Forbes noted.

"We have the capability to do well it was just a matter of being disciplined and tonight (last night), it was a full team effort, it was a truly awesome performance and I'm an extremely proud woman right now."


on the court

Jamaica will next play England, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Barbados ahead of the WNC and the goal attack can hardly wait to get back on the court.

"Next we have England and we are looking forward to tackle them and also Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

Head coach Connie Francis was clearly moved by the team's win and was also keen to highlight the complete effort from each team member.

"We were composed especially deep in that last quarter, we recognised that we had to keep possession and get opportunities."

"The game itself was fantastic, I always felt that we had the ability to win and it showed from the first test that it was work in progress but we all believed in our abilities. We made some errors here and there early in the game but I must commend all of our players for pulling out this fantastic performance," Francis added.

The Australians had little answer to the Jamaicans aggressive play and were clearly flustered throughout the contest, trailing at the end of all quarters except the first.

The Aussies took the first quarter 15-14 before trailing 30-25 and 40-38 at the end of the second and third quarters. And despite using four different shooters and having more attempts than the Jamaicans, 75-59; they were clearly second best this time around.

Substitutes Kate Beveridge and Natalie Medhurst were the best Australians in the offensive circle, both shooting 13 goals from 16 attempts while captain Sharelle McMahon helped out with 15 from 22.

Australian coach Norma Plummer was gracious in defeat and applauded the Jamaicans.

"It was a great contest, I think Jamaica deserved the win. We were coming back into the game, got a few interceptions then threw it away. You have to keep possession of the ball and score and we didn't do that tonight," Plummer reasoned.

"Jamaicans were fantastic, they all played well and deserved their win."