England 66 – 47 Jamaica

What a difference a week makes. Over the course of an hour, England delivered an emphatic performance to seal their first Test series win over Jamaica in eight years with a game to spare.

The reigning Commonwealth champions were forced to problem solve their way to victory against a stubborn Sunshine Girls’ outfit last weekend in London, but there was no repeat of that frustrating storyline in Nottingham.

Guided by the burgeoning shooting partnership of Ellie Cardwell and Jo Harten, the hosts never looked out of control after mounting a healthy nine-point lead in a blistering first quarter which they continued to stretch all game.

It was a sizzling start to a display which bore all the hallmarks of a team whose preparations for next year’s home Commonwealth Games are progressing rather well. Backing up their victorious series win in New Zealand three months ago with their first over world No.4 side Jamaica since 2013, a double achievement which head coach Jess Thirlby said she would be celebrating “quietly”.

“I’m not affording myself to get too carried away but at the same time, I do think it’s important to celebrate these moments and what the team is putting out on court,” she said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve won a series against Jamaica, so it’s great to see this group get their heads down and keep chipping away. We’ve been wanting a start like that for a while now and I couldn’t be more proud of the way the team came out in that opening quarter.”

After flipping the game in England’s favour last weekend, Cardwell once again was integral to her side’s dominant display. Despite carrying strapping on her right leg, her positioning around the final third of the court was sublime, while her link-up play with Harten was almost telepathic. Executing 91 per cent of their shots, their success was a marker of England’s confident and clinical play.

Jamaica, for all the stubbornness they showed last week, were simply powerless to stop England’s relentless waves of attack. Their error-strewn afternoon was best summed up when their captain, Jhaniele Fowler, was denied an impressive goal from deep when the whistle blew as the ball left her palms at the end of the first quarter.

Pulling the strings in midfield was none other than Serena Guthrie, their stalwart captain, whose three turnovers and endless flurry of feeds and drives in the goal third helped England to flourish.

England face Jamaica in the third and final installment of the series on Sunday, and Thirlby challenged her side to finish on a high: “We don’t just rest on our laurels, but what a privileged position to be in having taken the series today.”