Tricia Liverpool has been drafted into the final 12-member squad in place of Jillene Richardson in the only change made by national coach Wesley "Pepe" Gomes for former champions, the T&T "Calypso Netballers" for the 14th Netball World Cup in Sydney Australia from August 7-16.
Liverpool was recalled to the team after recovering from a foot injury which forced her to miss the national team tour of England and Ireland in May. She will join regulars Joelisa Cooper, Candice Guerrero, Onella Jack, Kielle Connelly and Rhonda John-Davis as returning players from the team which ended seventh four years in Singapore.
Also included and set for their senior World Cup debut are rising shooters Kalifa Mc Collin and Samantha Wallace, Daystar Swift, Kemba Duncan, Amanda Cameron and Afeisha Noel.
At the World Cup, the Calypso netballers, now ranked tenth in the world will meet the top two teams in the world, host Australia and New Zealan in Pool A round-robin play and will also will also go head-to-head with Caribbean rivals Barbados, now ranked ninth in the world, and whom they have beaten in their last three meetings.
This will be the second time that the World Championships are being held in Sydney, and the third time in Australia. Sydney last hosted the event in 1991, when Australia won a closely contested final against New Zealand.
Pool B of the 2015 Championship features world third and fourth ranked teams, England and Jamaica as well as Scotland and Samoa while Malawi, South Africa, Singapore and Sri Lanka comprise Pool C, and the quartet of Fiji, Wales, Uganda and Zambia make up Pool D.Australia qualified automatically as host along with the next five highest ranked teams from the 2011 Championship inclusive of New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Malawi and South Africa.
The other 11 teams qualified via their regional qualifying competitions, with T&T, joint world champions with New Zealand and Australia on home soil in 1979, topping Barbados in the American Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) qualifiers which were held in Alberta, Canada, last August.
In their build up to Australia, T&T had a short European tour which ended with a record of seven losses and one win in the eight-match campaign.
The team led by co-captains Cooper and Guerrero, was beaten by England in their Test series, 69-36, 67-42 and 65-42 and this was followed by a 1-4 outing at the Netball Europe Ranking Competition and Open Championship at the Antrim Forum, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In Belfast, the world ninth ranked T&T was again beaten by world third ranked England (63-42); Wales (53-46) and Scotland (45-42) before breaking that losing skid with a 52-40 win over host Northern Ireland. However, in their final match on Sunday, the Calypso netballers led for the first three quarters before falling to sixth ranked South Africa, 46-42.
The teams in the second eight groups will play round robin match, followed by crossover playoffs.
T&T 2015 World Cup netball team: Samantha Wallace, Kemba Duncan, Joelisa Cooper, Candice Guerrero, Rhonda John-Davis, Tricia Liverpool, Onella Jack, Kalifa Mc Collin, Amanda Cameron, Afeisha Noel, Daystar Swift, Kielle Connelly. Technical staff: Wesely "Pepe" Gomes (coach), Grace Patkinson-Griffith (assistant coach), Oba Gulston (physiotherapist), Carol Gittens (manager).
Preliminary round groups:
Pool A: No 1 Australia, No 2 New Zealand, No 10 Barbados, No 9 T&T Pool B: No 3 England, No 4 Jamaica, No 12 Scotland, No 14 Samoa Pool C: No 5 Malawi, No 6 South Africa, No 19 Singapore, No 24 Sri Lanka Pool D: No 7 Fiji, No 8 Wales, No 13 Uganda, No 18 Zambia