Team England announces men's and women's basketball squads for Gold Coast

Both the men's and women's teams won bronze at Melbourne in 2006 and will be hoping to better that success on their return to Australia, this time on the Gold Coast.

Preliminary matches for both teams will take place in Townsville, in the north east, before the semi-finals and medal clashes down at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"It's always a great honour to represent your country and this is the first time that I will have represented England," said Stef Collins, who was selected for the women's team which is coached by Jose Maria Buceta.

"It's such a great achievement. It's also fantastic that there has been a core group of us that have been playing together for so long.

"The majority of us play in the WBBL and it's great to see some of the home-grown girls that have been based here for so long be able to go out to a big tournament like this on the world stage and see what we can do."

The women will face the hosts in the seeded group as well as Canada and Mozambique, while the men's team, coached by Andreas Kapoulas, is in the unseeded pool against Cameroon, India and Scotland.

The top two teams in each seeded group progress to the semi-finals, while the bottom two then face the unseeded group's top two teams in a play-off for the last two semi-final spots.

"It's just amazing to be part of it and it's all starting to be real now," said Shane Walker, who plays for Leicester Riders.

"I've known the guys for a while and it's going to be great to compete with them.

"I've grown up competing with these guys in the England under 18s, 20s teams and it's now going to be an amazing opportunity to compete with them on a global stage."

Team England will send its athletes into competition in the best possible shape after a 10-day preparation camp in Brisbane.

Both sides will be hoping to replicate the performances in 2006 that saw both overcome Nigeria to claim bronze.

Steve Bucknall, now a board member of Basketball England, was the second Englishman to play in the NBA and played in the 2006 final.

"As the Commonwealth Games approach we wish both our men's and women's team success," he said.

"With a realistic chance of winning a medal at the Games we look forward to following their journey through the competition."

The women's side consists of Azania Stewart, Chantelle Pressley, Dominique Allen, Eilidh Simpson, Georgia Jones, Hannah Shaw, Melita Emanuel-Carr, Mollie Campbell, Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee, Rachael Vanderwal, Siobhan Prior and Stef Collins.

The men's team includes Adam Thoseby, Andrew Lasker, Andrew Thomson, Callum Jones, Daniel Edozie, Jamell Anderson, Joseph Ikhinmwin, Kofi Josephs, Michael Tuck, Orlan Jackman, Robert Gilchrist and Shane Walker.

Sportsbeat 2018