Netball World Cup 2019: Tracey Neville names England Roses squad

Veterans Geva Mentor, Jade Clarke and Rachel Dunn have been named in Tracey Neville's England World Cup squad.

Shooter Dunn, 36, returned to the England Netball set-up for January's Quad Series after missing out on the gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games team in 2018.

Defender Mentor, 34, and Clarke, 35, have been selected for their fifth World Cup, with BBC Sport columnist Serena Guthrie named as captain.

The tournament begins on 12 July.

Mentor is one of eight Commonwealth gold medallists to make the squad and is joined by centre-courters Guthrie and Jade Clarke, and defender Eboni Usoro-Brown.

Wing attacks Chelsea Pitman and Natalie Haythornthwaite, and shooters Jo Harten and Helen Housby - who scored the winning goal as England beat Australia on the Gold Coast last April - have all been selected.

It was revealed earlier this week that Roses' Commonwealth Games captain Ama Agbeze had missed out on selection, as have fellow champions Jodie Gibson and Kadeen Corbin.

Neville admitted she had some "really tough" decisions to make when selecting the squad.

"The World Cup is a challenging competition due to its format and the potential opposition we could come up against," she said.

"All of the players selected are at their physical peak and have shown through the international and Superleague season that they are able to consistently perform well under extreme pressure, which is crucial leading into July."

Starting wing defence Beth Cobden was ruled out of the tournament after suffering a knee ligament injury playing for new club Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Making their major tournament debuts for the Roses in Liverpool will be defenders Layla Guscoth and Fran Williams.

Guscoth moved from Team Bath to play for Super Netball side Adelaide Thunderbirds for the 2019 season and Wasps defender Williams joins her club team-mate and Superleague player of the season Dunn.

"It's been so emotional and I've been getting hundreds of messages, so it's been like finding out all over again," said 21-year-old Williams, after revealing the players had been told they had been selected 10 days before it was made public.

"I'm a young player and this is a big step but I have so much experience around me. There is a lot hype around our sport and a home tournament adds extra pressure - but we're ready."

Loughborough Lightning's captain Natalie Panagarry, who also made the Superleague All-Star XII team, completes the squad.

The 28-year-old, who just missed out on selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games squad, said: "I've been in the England set-up for a while but this is my first major tournament and I just feel so proud.

"I missed out on going to the Gold Coast last year, and that was tough, but this has made me realise anything can happen. There's 22 of us in the full-time squad and it's the first time any of us could have made the 12. That has never happened before."

England's first game of the competition is against Uganda on the opening day: Friday, 12 July at 19:00 BST.

Defence

Geva Mentor, GK

Eboni Usoro-Brown, GK/GD

Fran Williams, GK/GD

Layla Guscoth, GD/WD

Centre court

Jade Clarke, WD/C

Serena Guthrie, WD/C

Natalie Panagarry, WD/C/WA

Chelsea Pitman, WA

Shooters

Natalie Haythornthwaite, WA/GA

Helen Housby, GA/GS

Jo Harten, GS/GA

Rachel Dunn, GS/GA

BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame this summer to showcase female athletes in a way they never have been before. Through more live women's sport available to watch across the BBC this summer, complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women's sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.