THE Jamaican Suns have started their three match series with England in the perfect way, defeating the Thorns 55 goals to 35.

It was a comprehensive performance from the Suns as England struggled at times to keep up with the pace in transition of the Jamaicans.

Defensive pressure was high from both sides from the get go, but eventually the Suns were able to pinch a goal off the first English centre pass and consolidated off their own opening centre pass to take the early lead.

Some alertness in defence ensured England was quick to claw back the deficit and level proceedings back up again.

Jamaica then retook the lead after the likes of Ragjhon Brown and Naturi Jackson were really sharp on the loose ball in the English attack, and with a bit of flare Raheem Wallace was able to finish off their hard work.

Ky Lewis was getting plenty of chances to score for England but the subsequent shots kept falling short, and Aniffe Foster and Ramon Parkes were often quick to jump on the missed shots.

Up the other end James O’Connor was certainly trying his best to keep England in the game but was certainly not getting much of a break as the Jamaican shooters were getting plenty of feed.

In the final few minutes of the quarter the Jamaicans really started to get on top, and as such the Suns’ lead was five goals at the first change.

It was a frantic start to the second quarter, bit it was certainly an easier time for the Jamaicans in transition than it was for the Thorns.

As the Jamaican lead extended out to double figures, the English changed up their attacking end, trying to give themselves some extra height in their shooting end.

The English struggled to find any answers for Jamaica as they could not keep up with the pace of the Jamaicans down the court and at times their passes felt rushed.

The Suns really had the Thorns rattled, and as the quarter progressed the English stopped moving in attack and creating options like they had earlier in the match.

Moving James McClelland into goal keeper started to make a difference for England, but things were falling apart in attack so the Thorns could not capitalise on McClelland’s strong defensive work.

Ultimately the Jamaicans held an 11 goal lead at the main break and were looking fairly comfortable as the first half came to a close.

England started the third term with a lot more composure on the ball than when it ended the second term, and scored three of the first five goals to briefly bring the margin back into single digits.

However Jamaica quickly retook control of the game, and the margin was quickly back out to a double digit lead.

Needing to do something drastic to change around their fortunes, the English grew the height of their shooting circle even further by bringing on the 2m tall Julien Vincent into goal shooter, which gave another thing to think about for the Jamaican defenders.

However not even Vincent’s huge height advantage was enough to help England bring back down the deficit. They did get a double digit number of goals in the third term, which they were unable to do in the last term, but were still 15 goals down at the final change.

England continued to tinker with their lineup at three quarter time, particularly with their wing attack, but nothing seem to work as the Jamaicans continued to keep the foot on the gas.

The English were particularly struggling with the transition into attack, with the Jamaicans easily able to intercept the ball.

The Thorns’ scoring slowed up dramatically and with the game sewn up the Jamaicans began to experiment with their on court lineup.

Even with all the changes it did not matter as the Jamaicans continued to not let the margin drop, pushing it out to the eventual 20 goal final margin.

There were plenty of stellar performances across the court from Jamaicans, with Kurt Dale, Foster and Wallace all playing staring roles for the Suns.

Meanwhile for the Thorns, McClelland and James Thomson-Boston both tried to really rally their side with starring performances.

ENGLAND THORNS          9 |  9 | 10 | 7 (35)
JAMAICA SUNS                14 | 15 | 14 | 12 (55)

STARTING SEVENS

ENGLAND

GS: Ky Lewis
GA: Nathan Ramsdale-Owen
WA: Ross Oliphant
C: James Thomson-Boston
WD: James McClelland
GD: James O’Connor
GK: Kareem Brown

JAMAICA

GS: Raheem Wallace
GA: Kurt Dale
WA: Marlon McCallum
C: Naturi Jackson
WD: Ragjhon Brown
GD: Aniffe Foster
GK: Ramon Parkes