Vincy Jewels open OECS Netball contest in dominant mode

YESTERDAY, Monday August 25, 2025, the ECCB International Netball Series defending champions, St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), completed their first match of the international segment of the 2025 ECCB International Netball Series against Guyana with an emphatic 93-16 victory.

The champions began the defense of their title on the opening day, Saturday, August 23, 2025, with a no-nonsense approach, but rain intervened and disrupted the momentum.

Vincy Jewels were leading Guyana 42-10 when the rains descended into the third quarter, forcing the umpires to call the players off the court, and later, deciding to postpone the game.

Vincy Jewels stormed out of the blocks in that game with crisp passing, while experiencing several slips and slides as the players tried to cope with the wet surface at the Tanteen Hard Courts on the outskirts of the capital, St. George’s.

Vincy Jewels goal-shoot, Maryann Frederick, was in good form netting 45 goals from 51 attempts.

Substitute goal-shoot, Annicia Dallaway, scored 26 from 31 attempts; and goal-attack, Kristiana Christopher, sank 21 from 26 attempts.

For Guyana, goal-attack, Shenne Subrattie, scored 11 from 14 attempts; and goal-shoot Kristy Roberts, 5 from 10 attempts.

The quarter scores were 25-2, 41-10, 65-13, and 93-16 all in favour of the defending ECCB International Netball Series champions, St.Vincent and the Grenadines.

It has been a frustrating weekend for organizers, media, and fans as only three of the scheduled matches were completed because of rain which, at various intervals, drenched the open-court facility, leaving puddles and requiring extensive mop-up operations.

On Sunday, August 24, 2025, the 3:00 p.m. scheduled game between Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda was called off, as rains again forced a postponement of the day’s play. In the completed matches on Saturday, host, Grenada, defeated Dominica 65-43, and Antigua and Barbuda swept past Anguilla 63 -17.

Defending champions, St Vincent and the Grenadines is the highest-ranked team in the Eastern Caribbean, and third ranked in the Americas Netball region with only Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago ranked higher.

Barbados, Cayman Islands, and Guyana are taking part in the international component of the tournament, and it’s Guyana’s first appearance at the tournament, marking its return to regional netball.

As of Monday’s sign off of SEARCHLIGHT, organisers had not yet released the revised schedule in an already tight slate of matches. This is expected to become more challenging following the rain interruptions that led to the postponement of all games on Saturday and Sunday.

The 2025 ECCB International Netball Series runs from August 22- September,1, 2025, and teams are vying for the Gloria Ballantyne Trophy.

In assessing the performance of the Vincy Jewels game versus Guyana that started on Saturday evening, August 23, 2025, and finished on Monday morning, August 25, 2025, co-captain of the SVG team, Shellisa Davis said it was “pretty good”.

“ We had set a target for more than 100 [goals] but we fell short by seven. I’m happy about that nonetheless.”

With tougher games to come.

A confident Davis said “We just have to go in, do what we learnt in practice and hope for the best”.