Watch every match of the Vitality Roses' series against the She Cranes live on Sky Sports
Thursday 8 November 2018 15:31, UK
Serena Guthrie will captain the Vitality Roses for a three-match series against Uganda later this month as the side return to action on home soil for the first time since being crowned Commonwealth Games champions.
Guthrie, who will be playing her domestic netball at Team Bath next season, steps into the role with Ama Agbeze out due to injury.
Agbeze sustained a knee injury in the Jamaica Sunshine Series and Jade Clarke will be the Roses' vice-captain when they go head to head with Uganda, live on Sky Sports.
An understrength England lost all three games in that recent series against Jamaica. Head coach Tracey Neville brings experience into the squad at both ends of the court with 82-cap shooter Rachel Dunn and 90-cap defender Eboni Usoro-Brown.
The Roses' last meeting with the She Cranes was at the Commonwealth Games when they narrowly beat them 52-49 on their path to gold.
The African champions marked their debut Games with an impressive sixth-place finish and fans of the Vitality Superleague will be familiar with their captain - Loughborough Lightning's Peace Proscovia.
The Roses' captain cannot wait for the test that lies ahead of them and is eager to take to the court in front of their home fans.
"I think it's going to be a really exciting series, Uganda are a really good up and coming African team and it's going to be interesting to have them over for the three-match series," said Guthrie.
"It's one series I've really been looking forward to and been wanting to be picked for as it's great to play in front of our home crowd."
The first match of the series will take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Tuesday 27 November. Liverpool is the venue for next year's Netball World Cup, a tournament in which the Roses will meet the She Cranes again in Group D alongside Samoa and Scotland.
The second and third matches will be played in London at the Copper Box Arena on Friday 30 November and Sunday 2 December.
Head coach Neville will be preparing her side for the unexpected and wants lessons to have been learnt from their last encounter with the She Cranes.
"Uganda are an orthodox team. We had a tough game against them at the Commonwealth Games, in which we only managed to beat them by six goals," said the Roses' head coach.
"Although we started the game well, their resilience to possess the ball made it really difficult for us to create many opportunities, something we will be looking to improve in November.
"The series will give us an opportunity for us to look at, work on and expose more players and also build on solidifying combinations. The African countries are getting stronger with Uganda leading the way, so it further challenges us building into World Cup."
Helen Housby, Serena Guthrie (C), Layla Guscoth, Rachel Dunn, Sasha Corbin, Razia Quashie, George Fisher, Jade Clarke (VC), Eboni Usoro-Brown, Natalie Haythornthwaite, Gabriella Marshall and Jodie Gibson.
England are back in action on home soil and on Sky Sports Action later this month with the three-Test Series against Uganda which gets underway on Thursday November 27 at Liverpool's Echo Arena.
A huge 2019 will feature another thrilling Vitality Superleague which is just two months away and starts with the Super 10 on Saturday January 5. live on Sky Sports.
You can now receive all the latest Vitality Superleague news and more on your personal devices. The Sky Sports mobile app will keep you up to date with the latest news from your favourite sports, including netball - here's how to receive the alerts you want.
