Layla Guscoth returns for Roses as Blue and Gold quintet earn England selection for busy Autumn
Layla Guscoth is set to wear the England dress for the first time in three years after being named in the Roses squad alongside fellow Team Bath Netball star Kadeen Corbin for the Autumn internationals.
Sophie Drakeford-Lewis and Paige Reed have also been selected in the Roses’ U21 squad along with Chartie Curtis, who is stepping up to that age group after impressing as England U19 captain this summer.
Guscoth – named in the Vitality Superleague Team of the Year in both 2017 and 2018 – has taken time out from the international scene to focus on a two-year Foundation postgraduate medical training programme, which she has combined with playing for the Blue and Gold.
With her Foundation training now complete, Guscoth has made herself available for England selection again and has been included in the first squads named by Head Coach Tracey Neville following the Roses’ historic Commonwealth Games success in April.
Guscoth and Corbin, the latter part of England’s gold-medal winning squad on the Gold Coast, are in a 14-strong squad for September’s Netball Quad Series against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
The matches are being played in Auckland, Newcastle and Melbourne respectively, with the squad also including former Team Bath players Sasha Corbin, Serena Guthrie, Geva Mentor and captain Ama Agbeze, who is in line to win her 100th cap.
Guscoth, the Corbin sisters and Agbeze will then head to Jamaica at the start of October for a three-match series against the Commonwealth Games bronze medallists. Former Blue & Gold defender Summer Artman is also in the squad.
A busy six weeks will conclude with Guscoth returning to Melbourne as part of a ten-strong England squad looking to defend the Fast5 Netball World Series title. They will face New Zealand, Malawi, South Africa, Jamaica and the host nation over the course of two days – October 27 and 28 – in the small-sided version of the game.
Team Bath captain Eboni Beckford-Chambers is not available for the Autumn internationals due to work and wedding commitments but remains firmly in England contention ahead of next year’s Netball World Cup in Liverpool.
October will also see England’s next generation of stars in action as they look to defend their U21 Netball Europe title in Belfast.
Among the 12-strong squad are three players who have combined playing for Team Bath with studying at the University of Bath – Sports Performance graduate Reed, Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering student Drakeford-Lewis and Economics student Curtis. All have been supported by sports scholarships, Reed and Curtis by Santander and Drakeford-Lewis by Whiteley.
Talented attackers Reed and Drakeford-Lewis have both represented England at U21 level, while defender Curtis – a playing partner of Team Bath’s Superleague squad last season – is the current Blue & Gold U21 NPL captain.
Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec and supported by partners Mogers Drewett, Soldi and Netball South West. Centurion Chartered Financial Planners are supporting the team’s performance analysis and people development capabilities, Viper 10 are their Sportswear Supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.
