Jamaica's Under-21 coach, C. Lloyd Walker, has said that despite his team's series win over England in their just-concluded three-Test series, there is still a lot of room for improvement before this year's World Youth Netball Championships (WYNC), which will be held in the Cook Islands in August.
Walker made his assessment following his team's 46-43 loss to England in their final game on Thursday at the G.C. Foster College in St Catherine. However, the junior Sunshine Girls captured the series 2-1, this after they gained 49-33 and 43-29 wins in the first two matches.
Simple errors
"Even though we won the series, I think that we still made some simple errors," said Walker. "However, I think that we played well in spurts and there were times when we looked formidable throughout the series."
He added that England fought well and deserved their victory because they went home and did their homework for the final game.
The Jamaicans had a bad start to Thursday's match as they trailed the English girls 13-6, 26-19 and 33-31 at the respective intervals. Walker believes that the poor start cost his team the victory.
"I think that we lost the first quarter badly and this cost us the game because of poor passes and a lot of turnovers. I don't want to take anything away from the England team; I think that they deserved their victory."
Guts and determination
He praised his team for its gallant effort during the second half.
"The girls rallied and this shows that we have a lot of guts and determination and it also shows that the team has a lot of depth," Walker said. "We were able to fight our way back into the match and I am proud of their performance."
Jamaica's Crystal Gordon ended the three-match series as the top shooter, with a total of 95 goals from 118 attempts. Captain Christina Solmon was the next-best shooter for the hosts, with 32 goals from 38 tries.
Jo Harten was the top shooter for the English girls, with a total of 17 goals from 100 tries.
Both teams were using the series as part of their preparation for the WYNC.