Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

Jamaica's goal-attack (GA), Simone Forbes, prepares to shoot, while her teammate goal shoot (GS), Romelda Aiken, looks on, in the first of a three-Test series between Jamaica and England at the National Indoor Sports Centre, last night. England won the game 52-32. - Winston Sill

The Jamaica's Sunshine Girls were trounced 52-32 by England in game one of their three-Test series last night at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

A closely contested first quarter saw the Jamaicans trail their opponents 8-6 at the end of the that period. However, the English came out firing on all cylinders in the second period and quickly extended the lead to 16-10, with less than six minutes remaining in the quarter, this forced Jamaica's coach Connie Francis to call a time-out.

Even after the time-out interval, the number four-ranked English team went on to dominate the rest of the period and extended their lead to 24-14. The English who defeated World Champions New Zealand in their last competitive series, continued their dominance over the Jamaicans in the third period and extended their advantage to 38-25.

Led by Lousia Brownfield 31 goals from 39 tries and Pamela Cookey, the red-and-white-clad English team ran all over the Jamaicans in the fourth period and with little effort romped to a comfortable victory. Romelda Aiken 17 from 25 attempts and Simone Forbes 15 from 18 attempts were the top scorers for the Sunshine Girls.

"One of the things that happened is that we didn't asserted ourselves into the game," said a disappointed Francis after the game.

"I thought that it could have been a better performance. We wanted to play well because we were upbeat, but we had a real challenge and that unsettled our goal shooter Romelda (Aiken)."

"I thought that she had a challenge with the umpiring. She was been pushed and shoved and she wasn't sure what she was doing," Francis explained.

"One of the things that we would want for our team to get more practice matches against top quality teams. We only have a few months before the World Championships, the England team has certainly been doing their homework. They have been going over the world doing their work," said Francis.

Francis added, "I think that one of the things that we have to do in our next game is make sure that we take care of the ball."

Both teams are using the series as part of their preperations for this year's World Championship, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, in November.