England's selectors have named a young, dynamic squad containing several new faces for the upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand. Jade Clarke will captain the squad, which features sisters Sasha and Kadeen Corbin (in her first senior call up): Sophia Candappa, Gemma Fletcher and Rachel Shaw are also named in the senior squad for the first time. The full list of players is: Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Sophia Candappa, Jade Clarke, Kadeen Corbin, Sasha Corbin, Rachel Dunn, Gemma Fletcher, Stacey Francis*, Tamsin Greenway, Serena Guthrie, Jo Harten, Lindsay Keable, Sonia Mkoloma*, Rachel Shaw. (* subject to confirmation). Laura Malcolm and Emma Dovey have been selected as reserves and will be part of the pre-tour preparations, while two of England's players based overseas, Ama Agbeze (currently in Australia) and Rosie Allison (currently in New Zealand) will join the tour as training partners.
The All Africa Games are now under way, with several close matches already played out in what is now a round-robin netball championships. The two top ranked teams, South Africa and Botswana, played each other in the opening match of the competition, and after a thrilling encounter, the Proteas edged past Botswana to take the first win of the games 36-34. Uganda's She Cranes, inspired by accurate shooting by Florence Amono (pictured) were too strong for Zambia, emerging 61-31 winners. Tanzania's Taifa Queens defeated Kenya 36-35 in a nail-biting encounter, but Zimbabwe found their form early to cruise past host nation Mozambique 69-3. Meanwhile, South Africa's second game of the championships saw them defeat Ghana 79-22.
Netball continues to make inroads in the United States, and this week the USA Netball Association has announced plans to restructure its work to increase operational efficiency, promote nationwide development of the game and source sustainable funding for the organisation and its various initiatives. Further information about its plans can be found at www.usanetball.org. In the meantime, the Association continues to promote netball across the country as an alternative fitness outlet for women: the latest activity sees netball being used to encourage fitness as a replacement for line dancing classes in Delray Beach, Florida.
The Netball Development Trust continues to spread the word about netball development: Monica Thandi, the founder of the Trust was interviewed this week on Australia's “Three Feet Radio Show” - listen here http://www.facebook.com/l/ZAQDH5A-mAQCGCEsbYJLo8pnKASYSsNRAjQe-1PTRhXPkGg/threefeetradio.com/podcasts/2011/september/nt.mp3 . Sign up to their group on Facebook to receive more news about the Trust and its work, together with information about upcoming overseas missions.
Netball Fiji is holding trials this weekend to select its squad for the upcoming Pacific Netball Series, as well as starting the build up to the 2015 World Championships. 52 players named in the country's “long squad” after last month's National Championships will be assessed before the national and A squads are named. The country's selectors will be maintaining a close watch on all players and it is assumed that, moving forwards, there will be a level of flexibility to allow for promotion or demotion of players according to skills and performance.
Australia's selectors have made just one change to the country's World Championships winning squad for the upcoming series against England. Amy Steel of the Queensland Firebirds has been named as replacement for the injured Susan Fuhrmann for the three tests at the start of October, but Fuhrmann has been named to face New Zealand, subject to passing a fitness test. The full squad is: Natalie von Bertouch (capt), Catherine Cox (vice capt), Caitlin Bassett, Erin Bell, Julie Corletto, Laura Geitz, Mo'onia Gerrard, Kimberlee Green, Sharni Layton, Natalie Medhurst, Chelsea Pitman, Amy Steel.
