England has named an experienced netball squad for the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 aiming at defending the gold medal they won four years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Team England famously won a gold medal in dramatic style on the Gold Coast in 2018, with Helen Housby taking the match-winning shot in the final seconds against world leaders Australia.
The selected squad include three [Helen Housby, Jade Clarke and Geva Mentor] out of the seven players who were victorious in 2018. Eleanor Cardwell, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Layla Guscoth and Laura Malcolm will also be making their Commonwealth Games debut.
Team England: Eleanor Cardwell, Jade Clarke, Beth Cobden, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Stacey Francis-Bayman, Layla Guscoth, Jo Harten [vice-captain], Helen Housby, Laura Malcolm, Geva Mentor, Nat Metcalf [captain] and Eboni Usoro-Brown.
The squad has now flown to South Africa for a training camp, the Australia-based members will meet up in a couple of weeks’ time following the conclusion of Suncorp Super Netball’s final series.
Meanwhile, Imogen Allison, Funmi Fadoju, George Fisher and Hannah Joseph are named as England’s reserves.
England are in Group B alongside Trinidad & Tobago, Malawi, Northern Ireland, Uganda and New Zealand.
The defending champions [England] start the defence of their title on Friday, July 29 at Birmingham’s NEC Arena as they take on Trinidad & Tobago.
