EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Jeneice Clarke has been surprisingly omitted from the 12-member team which will represent Barbados at the Americas Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) Championships in St Lucia later this month.Instead, it is Sabrina Browne, the daughter of former captain Jacqui Browne, who will get her first senior cap, joining younger sister Samantha. Clarke was part of the team which finished third in St Vincent two years ago, drawing praise from then head coach Harriet Waithe. Despite a late return to training, she was impressive during the President’s Cup series, playing mainly at wing defence. Her exclusion, explained new coach Alwyn Babb, was not a case of under performing.“Jeneice is more a defensive circle to midcourt [player] and we were short on the attack side in terms of a genuine wing attack, and that is why Browne is in,” he told NATIONSPORT yesterday evening.Also missing the final cut are Damisha Croney and Shakira Boxill.Babb said he was quite satisfied with the selection which was “balanced in both circles and the midcourt” ahead of the July 22 to 28 tournament which will be held at the Beausejour Indoor Facility in St Lucia.Laurel Browne, Lydia Bishop, Kizzy Marville, Sabreena Smith, Lisa Puckerin and Nikita Piggott are the strong core of veteran players who competed at the last tournament, while Samantha Browne and Chekirah Shepherd all have senior caps. Like the Brownes, Latonya Blackman, who has not played for several years is back, and she too will have her sister Nadia, another senior debutante, on tour. Seventeen-year-old Tonisha Rock-Yaw of The Lester Vaughan School and Brydens rounds out the team, following a solid show during the President’s Cup. Extended playBabb said they had been doing extended play of four 20-minute quarters, and that would be changed to six 15-minute periods this week. One of his major concerns was team accuracy and that has improved.“That took a lot of drilling. We came up with plays which increased the number of defensive players in the goal third, and when it was brought back to one-on-one, the service became quite easy,” he said.“If they average 15 goals per quarter, they have to do the same when they are fatigued. So I would set a target and push them to get it when they are fatigued during those two extra quarters.“In the final days, we are going to reinforce defence and attack strategies and then go into the competition,” Babb said.Barbados will join Canada, St Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and hosts St Lucia at the tournament. The top two finishers will secure places at the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore, and it will also give Babb the chance to test his strategies and combinations in a tournament as they prepare for the Commonwealth Games in India in October.Barbados squad: Lydia Bishop, Laurel Browne, Nikita Piggott, Nadia Blackman, Sabrina Browne, Samantha Browne, Kizzy Marville, Sabreena Smith, Lisa Puckerin, Chekirah Shepherd, Tonisha Rock-Yaw, Latonya Blackman. Reserves: Jeneice Clarke, Damisha Croney, Shekira Boxill.
