Rich applause is due to Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls for their fighting victory over the England Roses in the Vitality Netball Horizon Series, which ended in Kingston earlier this week.

The four-match series — which, we hear, is to be contested annually for four years — began in Manchester, England on November 16 with a thrilling 49-49 draw.

The England Roses won the second game 61-53 to take a 1-0 lead entering the second half of the series at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

On home soil, before buoyant home supporters, the Sunshine Girls asserted themselves to win the third game — a nail-biter — by just one goal, 50-49.

The Jamaicans then clinched the series 61-53 in the final match.

Readers may recall that our national netballers covered themselves in glory in mid-2023 when they took the bronze medal at the Netball World Cup.

The Vitality Netball Horizon Series — which, we are told, is meant to encourage international standard competition and growth in the sport for both Jamaica and England — forms an important part of the build-up to the next Netball World Cup in 2027.

By winning the inaugural competition, Jamaica took the Rhone Hornsby Trophy, which honours legendary Jamaican sports administrator and former national player Ms Molly Rhone, as well as Ms Jean Hornsby, an Englishwoman who is said to have broken barriers as the first black player to represent her country.

The series victory for Jamaica is particularly encouraging because the national team has been idle for 17 months — since the last Netball World Cup.

By contrast, we are told the Roses have played 17 international matches over the same period.

“… to come out and put in a performance like that against a team who has played 17 Test matches since the World Cup is very commendable,” Sunshine Girls Captain Ms Shamera Sterling Humphrey was reported by The Gleaner newspaper as saying following the series decider.

We suspect that paucity of international playing time reflects a long-standing challenge for Jamaican sport: that’s an inadequacy of funding.

No doubt national netball coach Ms Sasher-Gaye Henry had that resource challenge very much in mind when she noted early in the series against England that training had started late for some of her players.

“We had so many limitations [but], despite our limitations … we still did well. We didn’t have the girls all in training — they came in late …” Ms Henry was reported by this newspaper as saying.

Very concerning is a Radio Jamaica story reporting Ms Henry as expressing worry that while team analyst Mr Kyle Hendricks had been of great help to the Sunshine Girls, there was uncertainty as to how much longer he would be aboard because of money worries.

Team analysis using available technologies is a given in modern professional and international sport. Hence, Ms Henry’s assertion that her team needs an analyst “all the time” so players can correct errors and improve their game.

We believe the positive spin-offs from success in sport for the national brand, in all respects, are too great for corporate Jamaica and the Government to be even perceived as hesitating to throw their weight behind the Sunshine Girls in their quest for greater glory.