Sasher-Gaye Henry-Wright, head coach of Jamaica’s senior Sunshine Girls netball team, is turning disappointment into opportunity after the team’s 0-2 loss to England late last year.

She’s using the recent series defeat as a valuable learning experience for her young squad, eyeing a stronger showing against world number one Australia in their upcoming three-match series.

The Jamaicans lost 37-80 and 30-81 in the matches at London’s Copper Box Arena in December 2025.

“We [went] to England with mostly inexperienced players; we had a few senior players but we were short of about six to seven of our players. And it really showed up in terms of experience on court but it was great opportunity for these ladies to really get this type of practice,” Henry-Wright said, her voice laced with a mix of disappointment and determination.

“They are not accustomed to this level of playing, and so we would really love to see more of this type of play, especially for the inexperienced ones, which they will get against Australia,” Henry-Wright told the Jamaica Observer.

HENRY-WRIGHT… they have to actually learn to trust each other and share the workload

The Sunshine Girls are set to play a significant three-Test netball series against the Australian Diamonds in Australia in February 2026, marking their first standalone series against Australia since 2011 and serving as crucial preparation for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The series kicks off in Adelaide on February 5, moves to Perth on February 8, and concludes in Melbourne on February 11.

Henry-Wright is particularly excited about the potential of her young squad, and she’s convinced that they have what it takes to make a statement on the international stage.

“We had learned a lot from it [England series] in terms of the girls not being consistent; definitely want them to be consistent, just sticking to the different plays we have gone through in training. In relation to confidence, they have to develop their confidence; they have to actually learn to trust each other and share the workload.

“There were a lot of times what I had realised was that where one and two players took over the attack and didn’t allowed it to flow as much as we wanted it to but overall, it was a good experience for our players,” she said.

Henry-Wright is looking for significant improvement from the team ahead of the Australia series and believes that the exposure will be beneficial for the young squad.

“Sometimes when it comes to those big moments players will panic, but I am hoping for this series we are going to play against Australia. It’s the number one team in the world so it is going to be a higher team we playing and.. our position is that we must ensure that we try to correct the stuff that we didn’t do well. I am… looking forward to much improvement going into this series,” Henry noted.

Despite facing numerous challenges, including injuries and illness, but Henry-Wright is hoping to get the squad back to full strength ahead of the Australia series.

“Right now I can say that I am little bit disappointed, thing is that today [Friday] might be the first day we really had most of the players here from we had started to train. The numbers have been very low because persons came back ill, persons were nursing some injures, and so we don’t have the full squad.

“We are really at a disadvantage now but we are hoping to get some work pushing into next week and see how well we can get them focusing on the things that we need to correct for this series coming,” explained Henry-Wright.

The coach is adamant that the loss to England was not a true reflection of the team’s abilities.

“The results were not what we really wanted but I don’t think they [England] were better than us based on the scoreline. That scorelines that we really got, I think we could have competed a little bit better, there were some simply errors that we did throw away showed that we had been inpatient and not having that experience,” she said.

Jamaica’s senior Sunshine Girls warm up at the National Arena on January 9, 2026. Photos: Joseph Wellington

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls netballers train at the National Arena.