Team Bath begin ZEO Netball Superleague title defence on Friday

Team Bath’s netballers aim to get their defence of their ZEO Netball Superleague title off to a winning start with victory over Team Northumbria at the University of Bath Sports Training Village on Friday (31 January).

Team Bath are the most successful team in ZEO Netball Superleague history with five wins from the eight campaigns contested to date.

They kick-off their 2014 campaign with back-to-back home fixtures against Team Northumbria on Friday and then Manchester Thunder, the 2012 champions, on Friday 7 February.

Jess Thirlby, Team Bath head coach, said: “It seems like it’s been a long pre-season and we’re just looking forward to getting going now. The first game will give us a good indication of how good our pre-season training has been, but the matches will then come fast and furious.”

Thirlby added that Team Northumbria could be a bit of an unknown quantity this season.

“Team Northumbria have a strong contingent of players from Northern Ireland and that will change the shape and feel of the team,” she said. “They have a new coach with a very good track record. They’ve always been mentally and physically tough and I think they’ll be more tactically astute this season.”

And Thirlby is anticipating having to make some difficult decisions in this season’s ZEO Netball Superleague. “This is probably going to be the hardest year for me in term of selections, the competition for places is so high,” she said. “That’s a great place to be, but it’s going to give me some headaches, not just picking the starting line-up but the full 12 as well.”

Carter Jonas are Team Bath Netball’s property partner.

The build-up to the Team Bath v Team Northumbria game on Friday begins at 7pm, with the game itself getting underway an hour later.

For full details of Team Bath’s ZEO Netball Superleague fixtures in 2014 and how to buy tickets, please go to the Team Bath netball pages.

For further information please contact the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or 07765 071683.