Preview: Storm kick off pre-season with Welsh Challenge

Surrey Storm Netball will welcome Wales to Surrey Sports Park tomorrow (Saturday, 7pm) as Coach Tamsin Greenway puts her long squad to the test for the first time.

Surrey Storm vs Wales
Pre-season friendly
Saturday 25th October 2014, 7pm centre-pass
Surrey Sports Park, Guildford
 
The return of professional netball to Guildford will be welcomed by Storm fans, who have had a long wait since the heart breaking 2014 Superleague final which saw Surrey suffer defeat in the final seconds of the game against Manchester Thunder.
 
It hasn’t been all bad throughout the summer break though, with the Commonwealth Games hitting our TV screens (and some fans being lucky enough to witness it in person) in July and August to plug the usually lengthy post- and pre-season gap.
 
Tomorrow’s visitors faced a tough ask to qualify from Pool B in Glasgow having been placed in the same group as netball machines Australia and a very familiar England outfit. Early defeats to these giants did little to boost the Welsh camps’ confidence, but they quickly turned the disappointment around with wins over Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.
 
Sadly this was not enough to progress from the Pool, but the Welsh Dragons would come home with their heads held high ahead of next summer’s Netball World Cup in Sydney.
 
Aside from taking over our radios for the Commonwealth Games with her expert commentary on BBC Radio 5Live, Coach Greenway has been busy building a talented long squad ready for tomorrow’s fixture.
 
Greenway will feature alongside fellow Storm stalwarts Amy Flanagan, Kat Ainsworth, Georgia Lees, Katie Harris, Amanda Davis and Danni Wates (née Finnigan), while NPL graduates Freya Thompson and Issy Kemp will be looking to break through into the senior squad with an impressive performance.
 
The match comes a little too soon for both Pamela Cookey and Mikki Austin, both of whom are recovering from recent injuries but are on the road to recovery in time for the start of the 2015 season. Rachel Dunn will also be absent due to her presence in the England squad currently touring Australia and New Zealand.
 
Storm squad to face Wales
Freya Thompson
Lorraine Kowalewska
Becky Gentle
Amy Flanagan
Kat Ainsworth
Laurelle Borke
Issy Kemp
Danni Wates (née Finnigan)
Georgia Lees
Tamsin Greenway
Katie Harris
Kat Hayes
Amanda Davis