By Frank Kamuntu
England made a winning start in the Nations Cup with a 62-56 victory over Uganda at Wembley Arena.
The Roses led by one goal going into the final quarter but relied on their experienced players to see out the win.
“We can be a lot better than that,” said shooter Helen Housby, making her 99th Roses appearance.
England will look to improve when they face 12-time world champions Australia in a repeat of last year’s World Cup final on Sunday.
England missed out on the title to the world number one in Cape Town and live commentary will be available of the rematch on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra from 16:00 GMT after Uganda take on 2019 World Cup winners New Zealand.
“Uganda came out and really gave it to us – but we can be cleaner,” said Housby after the win.
“I have experience of these kind of games and you have to be in the situation to learn how you’ll react. Some of these girls are still learning how to play in front of a crowd like this.”
Having never beaten England, Uganda are ranked seventh in the world and the Roses would have expected to overcome them comfortably, but head coach Jess Thirlby said “it was just the test we needed”.
The She Cranes, appearing at a series involving the world’s top sides for the first time, kept pace with the World Cup runners-up and just four goals separated the two at half-time.
A tricky third quarter saw Housby move to the bench after appearing to struggle with an injury towards the end of the second period.
Thirlby made changes – handing 19-year-old defender Jayda Pechova her sixth cap and shifting experienced players Natalie Metcalf and captain Fran Williams to the bench – and the Roses lost their way with Uganda cutting the gap to one goal before the final quarter.
But Thirlby had to turn to the bench again when the ship needed to be steadied and Williams, Metcalf and Housby – who confirmed after the match she was not injured – all returned in the final period to see out the victory.
“I trust the team,” Thirlby told Sky Sports. “When you’re playing a series when you have different teams coming up the next day you have to deal with the game in front of you, and also think ahead about what it’s telling us about tomorrow as well.”
Housby scored 20 goals while Eleanor Cardwell scored 31 of her 33 attempts and youngster Berri Neil added 11 from the bench.
Former England player Beth Cobden, commentating on the match on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said: “The experience came through at the end, keeping the control and the leaders stepping up.
“Tomorrow it’s about looking at that consistency. You can’t afford to make those errors against Australia – you will get punished for it.”
All four nations will play each other once before contesting a final or a third-place play-off on Sunday, 28 January at Leeds’ First Direct Arena.
Earlier on Saturday, Australia cruised to a 63-50 victory over world number two side New Zealand in the Nations Cup curtain-raiser.
A youthful Silver Ferns side remained within touching distance of the Diamonds for three quarters but, led by the brilliant Liz Watson who provided 44 feeds into the circle, Australia ran away with the match in the final period.
Australia have won all eight trophies they have contested since the start of 2022, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 World Cup in Cape Town.
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