Forbes

Captain of the Jamaica's Sunshine Girls netball team, Simone Forbes, is confident that Jamaica can reclaim their third place world ranking when they face England next month.

"I think we can beat England and and I am really looking forward to it," Forbes said yesterday.

The two teams will engage each other in a three-Test series in February. The first match will be played on February 22 in the London Arena, the second on the February 24 at the Sky Dome Arena in Coventry, and the third two days later at the Trent FM arena in Nottingham.

The Jamaicans, who are ranked fourth in the world, defeated England 53-52 to capture the bronze medal at the 2007 World Netball Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.

However, based on a revised ranking system, they were rated fourth in the world on the basis of an earlier 3-0 loss to England in a practice series.

The Jamaican team also includes five members of Jamaica's Under-21 squad that is currently preparing for the World Youth Cham-pionships, which will be held in the Cook Islands in July.

They are Romelda Aiken, Christina Solmon, Vanessa Walker, Sateva Taylor and Malysha Kelly.

Optimism

However, despite the level of inexperience in the team, Forbes was still optimistic.

"I think it is going to be very challenging and tough but I believe that we have the heart and we have the group of girls that can pull it off," Forbes added. "We have very talented players and I think we have a good team, even though some of the players are young, but they are still very good."

The other members of the squad are Nadine Bryan, Nicole Aiken, Tracey-Ann Robinson, Sabrina Spence, Paula Thompson and Althea Byfield.