Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls and England’s Vitality Roses touched down at Norman Manley International Airport Monday night, for the second leg of the four-match Horizon Series, with high expectations for a tough but exciting two matches on the Sunshine Girls’ home soil.

The first two matches which were played in England ended in a 49-49 tie and a 56-47 win to England.

“I think we did great as a team and we should be proud of our achievements, maybe the last result was not we what we wanted but it’s something that we have to work through and try to come the last two games and improve on our performance” Sunshine Girls coach Sasher-Gaye Henry said.

Henry says the Sunshine Girls were capable of winning the series outright but it would not be easy.

“Its going to be keenly contested,” she said. “It’s going to be competitive. We have to respect England and their second place in the world and we are number four. It all comes down to being disciplined, being precise in our movements and to improve on our weaknesses that we had. We have to limit our turn overs and capitalise on their strengths so it’s something that we have to work on.”

First-time captain Shamera Sterling-Humphrey was also optimistic about the team’s chances against the Vitality Roses. “I feel like once we can fix what needs to be fixed in the three ends of our court, the midcourt, the shooting and the defence, then I think Jamaica can get the two wins.”

Additionally, she was pleased with her game in the series so far.

England captain Fran Williams is happy to be in Jamaica for the first time to compete against the Sunshine Girls and she is expecting two exciting matches.

“We are so excited to be here and it’s amazing to get to travel and get to play in other countries and explore new places,” she said. “We’ve had such a good start to the series with two really close matches including a draw, so it’s going to be exciting on Monday and Tuesday next week.”

England’s coach Jess Thirlby also had high expectations for positive results from the two matches although she thinks that they are tough against the Sunshine Girls on home soil with home support.

“We know that this is going to be a really tough ask, coming out to Jamaica, but we know we are on the hunt for one more win to try and take that series,” Thirlby said. “Our expectations of ourselves are high but the Jamaica Sunshine Girls have got some if not a lot of world class girls in that side. It’s been a tough challenge at home and they obviously managed to get that draw with us so it’s game on over here. So, I am sure they are going to love being back here at home and we know the crowd will be right behind them, so a very different challenge here.”

The Sunshine Girls are back in training to fix their issues as they prepare to win their two home matches in front of what they hope is a full National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston. Netball Jamaica has started to sell tickets on various platforms as they court the netball community to support the team who will be playing their first series in front of their home crowd in over 15 months.

The final two matches in the series will be played in Jamaica on Monday at 6:30 pm and Tuesday at 7:00 pm.