Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

AUSTRALIA'S Under-21 netball team will make their first competitive appearance on their Jamaica tour this afternoon when they take on Super League champions Jamalco at G. C. Foster College at 3 p.m.

The Australians, who arrived in the island on Thursday night, will be using the match as part of their preparations for their three-Test series against Jamaica's Under-21 team, which begins on Monday at the same venue.

"This is a really valuable game for us because this team (Jamalco) has a lot of experience in it and they also have a number of present and former national players. This is also a first step for us going into this series," said Simone McKinnis, coach of the Australians, in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.

The Jamalco team will be led by national representatives Nadine Bryan and Nicole Aiken, along with former Sunshine Girls Samantha Mundle, Marsh Murphy and Elaine Davis, who gave up the captaincy due to a bothersome knee injury.

The Australian team includes six members of the Australian Institute of Sports under-21 unit that defeated the Jamaicans 3-0 in a three-Test series Down Under.

However, they will be without their injured captain, Madison Browne, who has been replaced in the team by Josie Janz.

The loss of their captain has not dampened their spirits.

"We are confident in our abilities because we had a good series last year in New Zealand and so we know that we are very capable and we just have to make sure that we keep our focus and our concentration," said McKinnis.

"We will also be using this series to test some of our players out and to put them into situations and see how they stand up," she added.

The Jamaicans were runners-up to the Australians at the Under-21 World Championships in Wales in 2000, but slipped to fourth place at the last championships in Florida four years ago behind champions New Zealand, England and Australia.

The second Test in the series will be played on Wednesday, March 18, and the final match on Friday, March 20.