With one eye now fixed on the semi-finals of the Netball World Cup tournament, assistant coach of the Sunshine Girls Shawn Murdock believes that the Jamaicans are hitting the right notes at the moment and are feeling more confident heading into the last-four of the competition.

The Sunshine Girls, who have been very dominant in the competition so far, outclassed their Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago 89-26 and recorded their fifth-consecutive victory in the tournament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday.

The Connie Francis-coached team is scheduled to play defending champions New Zealand in their top-of-the-table clash in Pool G today starting at 4:00 am Jamaica time.

“We are still confident because we are not taking it for granted, but the girls are hungry because they tasted what success feels like last year at the Commonwealth Games by winning that silver medal, so [they] are even more hungry and are going into this game ready to perform,” said Murdock.

“The girls really executed well against Trinidad because we had far less turnovers than we have had in our previous [games] and our all-round court play was also very excellent throughout the match,” he added.

Murdock said that the New Zealand encounter is going to be a very challenging one, but the Sunshine Girls are ready to take down their opponents today.

“It is going to be a tough test, but if we want to win the World Cup then we have to play and beat all the teams and so we are more than ready for this game,” he said. “We are excited about what we saw today [Wednesday] going into tomorrow because we thought the break that we got was ideal for us and so we are ready to take on New Zealand.”

The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, were ruthless against Trinidad and Tobago as they dominated the match from the opening whistle to take them to a 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Goal-shooter Romelda Aiken-George, who started the match in place of Captain Jhaniele Fowler, scored 12 of the team’s 20 goals in the period, while goal-attack Shanice Beckford netted the team’s other eight goals.

The Jamaicans, who are ranked seven places above the Trinidadians in the world, held their opponents to a mere four goals in the second period while scoring 24, as they romped to an easy 44-10 lead at half-time.

The Sunshine Girls, one of the favourites for the gold medal, ran circles around their opponents in the third stanza for a 68-26 lead at the end of the period.

Aiken-George top-scored for the Jamaicans with 37 goals from 42 attempts. She received support from Beckford, who chipped in with 20 goals from 24 tries.

Fowler, who only played in the third quarter of the match, added 17 goals from 19 attempts and Rebekah Robinson contributed 15 goals from 17 tries.

Afeisha Noel top-scored for Trinidad and Tobago with 20 goals from 22 attempts.