Jamell Anderson was one of the stories of Gold Coast 2018 when he proposed to girlfriend Georgia Jones – now he wants to make the headlines for his performance with ball in hand. 

Where Anderson and the England men’s basketball team missed out on a medal in Australia, Jones and the women claimed a silver. 

So arriving in Birmingham, where the sport’s format has changed to 3x3 basketball, Anderson had one goal in mind, ensuring that he could match his now wife’s achievement and earn some hardware of his own. 

The 32-year-old said: “I think we expect that Team England will be on the podium, we don’t expect anything less. We want to win. 

“My wife has got a medal and I don’t want her to keep those bragging rights, I need to turn those tables around and make sure I’ve got my own medal.”  

The team could not have made a better start, getting the better of New Zealand 21-10 in their opening match before backing that up with a 21-5 win over Trinidad & Tobago in their second encounter. 

Anderson, who hails from Clifton, contributed nine points and five rebounds over those games as England clinched a place in the knockout stages before their final group game against Australia. 

Leading the way was Myles Hesson, playing in his home town of Birmingham and revelling in the atmosphere of the home crowd. 

Hesson said: “It’s a dream start and what we’ve been working towards. The second game was a different atmosphere to the first but the crowd was behind us the whole way and we took care of business. 

“We’ve got two wins, we’ve got to 21 points in both games, and we’re on track to do really well if we can keep up this energy and intensity. 

“The job is not done so after the euphoria of these two wins, we’ll stay level-headed.” 

Like England, Scotland opened their campaign with a pair of victories, including a 21-20 success over Canada, raising the possibility of a meeting in the knockout stages between the home nations in the battle for the podium. 

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