JAMAICA and England will clash today at 9:00 am in the deciding match of their Three Test Vitality Netball Series, after the Sunshine Girls won game two 61-58 at the Copper Box Arena in London, England, on Saturday.

Having lost the first encounter 52-73 on Wednesday the Jamaicans came out fighting and returned the favour, overturning a six-goal first-quarter deficit, establishing a 10-goal advantage in the third quarter, and holding on to win by three goals.

With the series level at 1-1 the Copper Box Arena should be buzzing with excitement today as both teams hunt the crucial victory to win the series which acts as invaluable preparation for July’s World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. England won the last series 2-1 in 2021.

The irresistible Jhaniele Fowler with 56 points led the injury-hit Jamaica to victory but it was impressive wing attack Khadijah Williams who was voted Player of the Match.

“I feel great! It was a tough loss [on Wednesday] so we knew we had to come back and give our best — and our best was good enough for tonight,” said a beaming Williams.

Unlike Wednesday, the Sunshine Girls had to come from behind and overturned a six-goal deficit after trailing 12-18 at the end of the first quarter.

Following a pep talk from Coach Connie Francis, the Sunshine Girls came out on fire, quickly tying the game at 20-20 before moving away and winning the second quarter 19-9 to lead 31-27 at the half.

“She just told us to push through and we have to dig ourselves out of what we put ourselves in. So, basically, that was that,” said Williams.

The momentum continued for Jamaica as they established a 10-goal advantage and never relented as Coach Francis rotated her team expertly to keep them fresh.

The Jamaicans won the third quarter 17-14 and led 48-41 heading into the final 15 minutes, well on top and on their way to victory.

England started the fourth quarter in blazing fashion — reducing the deficit to just three with 10 minutes remaining — but the ever-calm Fowler kept Jamaica going with her steady hands and shooting, holding the advantage to five with the score at 55-50 and just under six minutes remaining.

The Roses reduced the deficit to three with four minutes to go and a 56-53 scoreline, and lessened this further to a two-point difference with three minutes remaining.

But a crucial goal by Shanice Beckford silenced the raucous home crowd and slowed England’s run before Fowler re-established a five-point advantage and gave the Jamaicans some breathing space and avoided a nervous last minute.

Winning Coach Connie Francis was more than pleased as her team bounced back impressively.

“I am overwhelmed. I am so proud of the effort of the Sunshine Girls; I thought they came out with a spirited effort from start to finish,” said Francis who represented Jamaica at five World Cups and has 120 games under her belt.

“We let ourselves down in points of the game but I thought [with regard to] the effort behind every ball, there was a lot of thought process,” she pointed out.

The Sunshine Girls, already without world-class defender Shamera Sterling and with further injury to wily centre Nicole Dixon-Rochester, showed a lot of character to win.

“The team is coping; and you know what I love about our team is that they believe in each other. These girls have been around for a long time so they support each other. How many minutes can you give us, and when Nicole comes in on and off the court it is so positive,” said Francis

She continued: “It’s really a learning process for our youngsters who will be stepping in her shoes, and I thought the team effort was really good and everybody supported each other.”

Meanwhile, England Coach Jess Thirlby was left disappointed as she had hoped to wrap up the series on Saturday.

“We are really disappointed in a different way to have found a way to dig deep throughout the game, having lost that second quarter in the style that we did,” she pointed out. “When we talked about needing learnings at the start of January out of this…we found out a lot about ourselves, both early in the game and at the back end,” she explained.

Vitality Roses starting seven: Alice Harvey (GK), Funmi Fadoju (GD), Layla Guscoth (WD), Imogen Allison (C), Chelsea Pitman (WA), Helen Housby (GA), Olivia Tchine (GS)

Substitutes: Jade Clarke, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Laura Malcolm, Natalie Metcalf, Francesca Williams

Jamaica starting seven: Kadie-Ann Dehaney (GK), Jodi-Ann Ward (GD), Crystal Plummer (WD), Nicole Dixon-Rochester (C), Khadijah Williams (WA), Shanice Beckford (GA), Jhaniele Fowler (GS)

Substitutes: Malysha Kelly, Roxonna McLean, Shimona Nelson, Rebekah Robinson, Abigale Sutherland

— Howard Walker