Monday 9 September 2019 15:18, UK
Jess Thirlby has named her first England squad as head coach for the Vitality Roses' tour of Oceania.
The group of 15 will travel to Australia and New Zealand for a behind-closed-doors tournament later this month.
The squad, which includes World Cup bronze-medallists Fran Williams and Natalie Panagarry, will play and train against Australia's development team in Canberra before both sides travel to Auckland to face the New Zealand A side.
"We have some new faces within the Roses programme now and this is a great chance to expose those players to new styles of play and competition, whilst giving them the opportunity to learn from some of their more experienced team-mates," said Thirlby.
"For instance, Natalie and Fran who had the amazing opportunity to compete in the Vitality Netball World Cup earlier this year. It is very exciting to be taking this team on tour to Australia and New Zealand to compete against both team's equivalent emerging talent.
"I'm very much looking forward to my first international tour as head coach of the Vitality Roses and can't wait for what the future holds for this team."
England squad for Australia/New Zealand tour: Imogen Allison, Summer Artman, Eleanor Cardwell, Amy Carter, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, George Fisher, Laura Malcolm, Gabby Marshall, Victoria Oyesola, Natalie Panagarry, Jessica Shaw, Kate Shimmin, Olivia Tchine, Razia Quashie, Fran Williams.
England have also named their squad for the Europe Open, which sees them play Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales from September 27-29.
The England side will be led by England Netball futures head coach Sam Bird, alongside Emily Perry as assistant coach.
England squad for Europe Open: Halimat Adio, Rebekah Airey, Iona Christian, Zara Everitt (vice-captain), Funmi Fadoju, Ally Housley, Berri Neil, Jasmin Odeogberin, Yasmin Parsons (captain), Emilia Roscoe, Kira Rothwell, Sienna Rushton.
Live netball is back on your screens in October with the Fast5 All Stars Championship.
