England national basketball team

The England national basketball team represents England in international basketball competitions. The team is organized by England Basketball, the sport's governing body in England. In 2005 England, along with the basketballscotland and their counterparts in Wales combined forces to form the Great Britain national basketball team, with the target goal to field a competitive team capable of winning medals at the London 2012 summer Olympics.

Eurobasket 1946

England's first European championship appearance was at Eurobasket 1946. They lost all four of the games that they played, and subsequently finished last in the field of ten teams.

Eurobasket 1955

England played at Eurobasket 1955 in Budapest. The losing streak continued as they lost their four preliminary round games. They lost their first two of the four classification round games. England finally ended their losing streak with victories over Switzerland and Austria. The team placed second in the five teams of the classification group, moving to the 9-12 classification semifinals. The team lost that game, and the 11-12 final as well. The English national basketball team finished in 12th place out of the 18 teams.

Competitions

Performance at Summer Olympics

Rosters

1946 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 10 teams

Colin Hunt, Douglas Legg, John Hart, Ronald Legg, Frank Cole, Arthur Lee, Derius Hewitt, Stanley Weston, Ken Dight, Charles Watson (Coach: W.Browning)

1948 Olympic Games: finished 20th among 23 teams

Colin Hunt, Douglas Legg, Ronald Legg, Frank Cole, Robert Norris, Stanley Weston, Lionel Price, Trevor Davies, Malcolm Finlay, Stanley McMeekan, Sydney McMeekan, Alexander Eke, Harry Weston

1955 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 18 teams

Arthur Cladingboel, Reg Fearn, William James, Gordon Cook, Dennis Wilkinson, Colin Wedge, Alan Bruce, Ugo Agnelli, Wilf Byrne, Keith Ledbrook, Michael Roblou, Ronald Rix, N.Smith

1961 EuroBasket: finished 19th among 19 teams

Raymond Kirk, Kornel Tober, Alan Wardle, Peter Creasey, Wilfred Byrne, Alan Tillot, Alan Hildyard, Ronald Hextall, Geoffrey Kaiser, Dennis Wakefield, George Whitmore, Terry Keogh (Coach: Thomas Vaughan)

1981 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 12 teams

David Lloyd, Neville Hopkins, David Berry, Martin Clark, Paul Richards, Nick Burns, Clive Hartley, Jim McCauley, Ian Day, Paul Stimpson, Dan Lloyd, Karl Tatham (Coach: Victor Amber)

Commonwealth Games

Melbourne 2006

The men’s and women’s teams were competing for the first time as England in a major multi-sport event, and it was the first Commonwealth Games in which basketball was featured.

Men's Team

The men’s team included Steve Bucknall, the second Englishman to play in the NBA. John Amaechi, who played 284 games in the NBA, was also in the squad.Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, both playing for the Chicago Bulls, will also be competing in the 2012 Olympics in London as well as Kelenna Azubuike of the Golden State Warriors.England defeated Nigeria, 80-57, to claim the bronze medal in Men’s Basketball.The teams were tied at 15 points to end the first quarter.Robert Reed and Andrew Bridge led the way as England found their stride in the second phase, and they pulled away in the second half of play. Reed was the top scorer for England with 16 points, and Michael Martin contributed 13. [ [http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Sports+and+Venues/Basketball/News/20060324+England+take+Basketball+bronze.htm Melbourne 2006 report] ] Team
* Steve Bucknall
* Jermaine Forbes
* Andrew Bridge
* Ronnie Baker * Delme Herriman
* Andrew Sullivan
* Fabulous Flournoy
* Mike Martin
* Robert Reed
* John Amaechi
* Julius Joseph
* Richard Windle

Coaching Staff
*Coach - Peter Scantlebury
*Assistant Coach - Michael Hayles
*Assistant Coach - Tim Lewis [ [Http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Sports + et + + Venues/Basketball/News/20060324 Angleterre + prendre + Basket-ball + bronze.htm Melbourne rapport 2006] " 'équipe * Steve Bucknall * Jermaine Forbes * Andrew Bridge * Ronnie Baker * Delme Herriman * Andrew Sullivan * Fabulous Flournoy * Mike Martin * Robert Reed * John Amaechi * Jules Joseph * Richard Windle" 'Coaching personnel * Entraîneur - Peter Scantlebury * Assistant Coach - Michael Hayles * Assistant Coach - Tim Lewis

Women's Team

The women’s team included Jane Thackray, who had more than 50 international caps. Also on the squad was Andrea Congreaves, one of the most outstanding players produced by England, as well as some exciting up-and-coming talent. [ [http://www.sportengland.org/text/index/news_and_media/commonwealth_games_2006.htm#bb Sport england] ]

In the game for the bronze medal, England outscored Nigeria for the first three quarters, but was forced to withstand a late comeback when Nigeria shot 29 points to England's 23 in the last quarter. The top scorer for England was Andrea Congreaves with 21 points, Shelly Boston scored 14 and Rosalee Mason with 12 points. [ [http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Sports+and+Venues/Basketball/News/20060323England+baskets+bronze.htm Melbourne 2006 Report] ]

Team
* Rosalee Mason
* Claire Maytham
* Sally Kaznica
* Kristy Lavin
* Caroline Ayres
* Louise Gamman
* Jo Sarjant
* Andrea Congreaves
* Shelly Boston
* Katie Crowley
* Gillian D'Hondt
* Jane Thackray

Coaching Staff
*Coach - Bazany, Branislav
*Assistant Coach - Clark, Mark [ [http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Schedule%20and%20Results/By%20Sport/Basketball/Thu%2023%20Mar/Results/Result%20-%20BK140050100001?ScheduleItemID=27076 Melbourne 2006] ]

ee also

*Basketball at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
*England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games (Basketball)

References