Blue & Gold trio in Vitality Roses squads for January matches as Jayda Pechova earns BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year nomination
Team Bath Netball Super League trio Imogen Allison, Tash Pavelin and Jayda Pechova will be on international duty in January after England today named three Vitality Roses squads for matches at the start of a World Cup year.
Allison is named in a 16-strong squad for the Roses’ three-match series against Commonwealth Games silver-medallists Jamaica, with fixtures being played at the AO Arena in Manchester (11th January) and London’s Copper Box Arena (14th and 15th January).
Defensive duo Pavelin and Pechova, who made their first senior Roses appearances at last month’s Fast5 World Championships in New Zealand, are in line to gain more international experience as part of an England A squad that will also face Jamaica on 9th January.
Two days later, ahead of the Roses match in Manchester, England A will take on Scottish Thistles, who have been drawn in the same pool as the Roses for next summer’s 2023 Netball World Cup in South Africa.
Pechova is also in the Futures Roses squad to face the England Thorns men’s team in curtain-raiser fixtures ahead of the Jamaica Test Series matches at the Copper Box Arena.
The latest England selections continues a memorable breakthrough 2022 for Pechova, who was this weekend named on the ten-strong shortlist for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award.
The 18-year-old, who began studying Sports Performance at the University of Bath in September, was also shortlisted for the SportsAid One-to-Watch Award after a year in which she made her Super League debut with London Pulse against Team Bath before joining the Blue & Gold for the 2023 campaign.
Also in the England squad to face Jamaica are former Team Bath players Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Layla Guscoth and Geva Mentor, while University of Bath alumna Paige Reed is in the England A squad and Team Bath Academy graduate Molly Hole earns her first Future Roses call-up.
Team Bath Netball is supported by its Principal and Pathway Partner, chartered accountants Haines Watts; Bath Building Society and Rengen Developments, who are overall Team Bath Partners; Centurion Chartered Financial Planners; Ecus Ltd, our environment partner; and PDS Coaching, who provide performance mentoring. Team Bath’s suppliers include O’Neills, 2XU and Pulseroll.
