ENGLAND’s third-ranked netballers beat Jamaica 50-45 in the second game of the Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) yesterday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-test series.

The Jamaicans fought back from 15 goals down in the final quarter after an up-and-down encounter.

Both teams made changes to the teams which started in Tuesday’s opener, with Shantal Slater in the goal shooter’s spot for Jamaica and Kadeen Corbin (who is of Jamaican lineage) in the opposite end of the court for England.

The visitors were bouncing from the opening whistle and had gone up by seven goals to nothing before Sunshine Girls coach Oberon Pitterson-Nattie called a time-out to try to remedy the locals’ unforced errors.

Seven minutes had gone in the first quarter and England were eight up before the Jamaicans were finally able to hit the target.

But the English continued to dominate to the chagrin of the NISC crowd who yelled their hearts out every time Jamaica got possession and seemed ready to build on the momentum. The fans were left disappointed most of the time, however, as the shooters were unable to deliver, and the Roses eventually took the quarter 16-7.

It became even more painful to watch in the second quarter as the world number three- ranked England ran circles around the fourth-rated Jamaicans. They had more than doubled their score 33-16 at the half-time break.

The third quarter was turning into more of the same when the Sunshine Girls suddenly got the crowd back into the game with shouts of “defence! defence!” after an interception that led to a four-goal streak led by Sabrina Spence in for Slater.

The English, however, had managed to regain some of their composure by the end of the quarter and led 41-31 entering the final 15 minutes. They continued to add to their advantage in the final quarter and, while the Jamaicans had another few moments of brilliance in the final quarter, the visitors went on to victory.

England captain Pamela Cookey top scored with 25 goals from 27 attempts, while Spence had 24 from 28 for Jamaica.

England won the first game 53-42, while the match-up comes up on Saturday at the same venue.