Beth Durant says England’s combination of experience and youth is what makes them such a potent side ahead of the three-Test series against South Africa which starts on Thursday live on Sky Sports.
The top player in the squad heading to South Africa is Helen Housby, with 116 caps, while under-capped players include recent debutant Jazz Brown – both of whom had incredible performances during the pre-Christmas international series.
The Vitality Roses hosted New Zealand and Jamaica in a Test series where they narrowly lost 2-1 to the Silver Ferns but dominated the inexperienced Sunshine Girls 2-0.
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Highlights of the third match of the Vitality International Test series between England and New Zealand
“We’ve got a really good balance of older, more experienced heads and then just the young talent coming up,” Durant (née Cobden) said.
“I think the younger girls are the best youth we’ve had, probably ever.”
“The likes of Funmi (Fadoju) and Liv (Tchine) are such amazing athletes and to think they’re only in their early 20s and have such a career.
“Yeah, it’s a really exciting team. It’s nice to have Nat Metcalf back in the team after having the baby, she also brings a lot to the environment.
“So I feel like the whole balance between old heads and young, exciting talent is really good and it’s important to have both.”
Jaz Brown made her debut against New Zealand in November as an impressive force in defense (Photo: Flynn Duggan)
But facing South Africa will be no easy feat, no matter how much experience or young talent the Roses possess.
In recent years, South Africa have steadily improved and become an even more competitive side capable of challenging the top four, threatening their harmony at the top of the world rankings.
“It’s a big challenge, I know (South Africa) are ranked below us in the world rankings, but there’s not much and they’re such an up-and-coming side,” Durant said.
“They have loads of new talent that maybe we haven’t seen as much but last year when we played them they had some brilliant players that made you think there was some really good new talent on the scene.”
“And I think they really step up, they like to play against us and I think they did.”
“It’s going to be really exciting to see what they put out and we’ll have to play them at the Commonwealth Games so it’s good preparation for us to learn about them and get us in the right stage when we play them in the groups.”
Helen Housby’s last goal of the 2018 Commonwealth Games is what earned England the gold medal
England and South Africa are in the same Group (A) for the Commonwealth Games later this year in Glasgow, along with world No 1s Australia, Malawi, Tonga and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Group B consists of New Zealand, Jamaica, Wales, Uganda, Scotland and Trinidad and Tobago.
The two teams will play each other on July 30, the final day of the group stage, in what is likely to be a crucial game for both teams in deciding who will advance to the semi-finals.
Vitality Roses take on South Africa in a three-match series, live Ski Sportsstarting on January 29 at 4 pm (GMT).