"We are underdogs"

Sandra Bruce-Small, coach of Barbados' netball team believes her team are underdogs going into today's three-Test series against an inexperienced Sunshine Girls unit.

Today's match will be played at the National Arena starting at 7 p.m.

The Sunshine Girls will be without a number of the senior players including top shooters Romelda Aiken and Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, along with Vangelee Williams, Malysha Kelly, and Paula Thompson.

Very difficult

Also missing from the Sunshine Girls team are the trio of Shanice Beckford, Khadijah Williams and Nicole Dixon, who were suspended by head coach Jermaine Allison-McCraken two weeks ago.

Despite, this Bruce-Small said the Sunshine Girls are going to be very difficult to beat.

"I don't know much about the composition, but I have recognised quite a few of the senior girls and so I always expect that any Jamaican team will be a strong team," she said.

"Jamaica is ranked number four in the world and we are ranked number 12 and so we are the underdogs here. I figure that Jamaica is very strong in the region and so even without their senior players, I think that Jamaica will still have a very strong team," Bruce-Small said.

She added that they are using the series as a stepping stone to qualify for next year's Commonwealth Games.

"We are taking this very serious. Our girls have not played any Test match since the World Championships (2015) and we want to see where at. We have trained for the last five months and we want to look at the fitness, at their strengths and analyse and their strengths and weaknesses moving on from here," she said.

MATCH SCHEDULE

Today, Sunshine Girls vs Barbados at 7:p.m.

Saturday, Sunshine Girls vs Barbados at 6:p.m.

Monday, Sunshine Girls vs Barbados at 7:p.m