>Jamaica Sunshine Girls versus Australia in the second of a three-match series at the National Indoor Sports Centre. - Ian Allen

Marva Bernard, president of the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA), said the Sunshine Girls will be pulling out all the stops as they aim to defeat arch-rivals England in their three-Test Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series later this month.

The series was launched yesterday at the Acropolis in Barbican, St Andrew, with the slogan "Wi a go tek it from dem," which is what the Jamaicans will be hoping to do as they seek to regain the third spot in the world rankings.

"We are going to compete and we are going to compete very hard, and if we have been training harder than them and competing with them, then on the given day I think we will do it," said Bernard, during yesterday's launch of the series.

"This series is very important because 15 players are vying for 12 places on the World Championship team and they all want to go to Singapore," Bernard said.

The first match of the series will be played on April 26, the second on the 28, and the final match is set for the 30.

ranked fourth

The Sunshine Girls are ranked fourth in the world, 10 points behind the English, and a 3-0 series win for the hosts will see them regaining the third spot, a position they once held three years ago.

The English team is due to arrive in the island on April 22, Good Friday.

New Zealand, with 174 points, are the number one-ranked team, marginally ahead of Australia (173), while England (150) are third ahead of Jamaica (140).

Simone Forbes, a former captain and veteran of two World Netball Championships (WNC), said the series is a very crucial one because it forms an important part of their preparations for the championships.

"It is extremely important because this is the last big match that we have before the World Championships and so we want to be going into it on a high by winning these matches," said Forbes.

"Right now, we are 10 points behind England in the rankings and if we win these three matches we will overtake England for third place; that is a very good position to be in going to the World Championships and it would boost everybody's confidence," she said.

The WNC will be held in Singapore from July 3-10. Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) is sponsoring this series to the tune of $1.7 million, while Best Dressed Chicken have contributed $500,000.

>Jamaica Sunshine Girls versus Australia in the second of a three-match series at the National Indoor Sports Centre. - Ian Allen