Romelda Aiken ... dominated the much smaller Cook Islands' defenders. - Carlington Wilmot

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CMC)

Reigning bronze medallists Jamaica and former world champions Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) started the World Championship with wins, but Barbados lost to England yesterday.

Jamaica crushed the Cook Islands 71-29 in their first pool game, and T&T handed Scotland a 47-39 defeat, but Barbados came up way short when England rolled them over 87-34.

The Jamaicans overcame a slow start to come away with a comfortable victory over the number 11 ranked Cook Islands.

Jamaica edged to a 14-9 first quarter lead, despite a feisty performance from the Cook Islands' girls, but they took control of the game in the second period when they climbed to a 36-16 half-time lead.

A strong performance in the second half of the game, and a considerable height advantage provided by defenders Nicole Aiken and Kasey Evering, as well as beanpole shooter Romelda Aiken contributed to the cause of the Sunshine Girls, considered one of the four teams - along with New Zealand, Australia and England - who are favoured to contest the semi-finals of this event.

"There's a lot we can take from the game," Jamaica coach Connie Francis said.

"Most important was our style. We have to be able to take the ball early in the game. We didn't do well early, but I thought we got our game together."

In a match that generated a standing-room only crowd, T&T rose to the occasion to outlast the Scots in a very competitive affair.

It was goal-for-goal in the first quarter, but T&T emerged with a 12-11 advantage which they increased to hold a 27-22 advantage at half-time.

In a slow-scoring third quarter, the Calypso Girls moved ahead 37-28 before Scotland came back in a mad scramble in the final 15 minutes to outscore the Caribbean side 12-10, but their efforts were to no avail in a gallant loss.

"We were able to minimise our mistakes," T&T captain Rhonda John-Davis said. "We said no more mistakes and it worked. Our defence worked wonderfully. Our shooters also worked well too, but it was our defence which was best."

Barbados failed to penetrate England's mid-court defensive screen with their plays often breaking down in this area as they wilted under the pressure.

England left some of their best players on the bench for the first half, but were still 38-22 up at the break and then rode roughshod over the opponents in the second half.

In other games, Wales looked less convincing in their 54-35 victory against Botswana, who made 14 shots out of 14 in the final period, former World Champions Australia hammered Samoa 82-26, Fiji defeated Singapore 61-32 and South Africa spurred Malaysia 67-28.

Only three nations have won the World Championships since its inception in 1963 - Australia (eight times), the Kiwis (four), and T&T shared the title in 1979 with New Zealand and Australia.