A former Chester Netball Club player will lead her country at the 14th Netball World Cup in Australia.

Suzy Drane, 28, is Wales' most experienced player with 66 caps to her name.

Although born in St Asaph and brought up in North Wales, much of her netball education came once her family had moved to the Chester area. Suzy attended Christleton High School and played club netball for Chester, as well as representing Cheshire at various age group levels.

Celtic Dragons player Suzy was was joint captain of the Welsh side that finished ninth at the last World Cup in Singapore four years ago and also led her country at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year, when Wales were eighth.

The 2015 World Cup will be held between August 7 and 16, at venues within Sydney’s Olympic Park.

Suzy said: “It’s a huge honour to be invited to captain the Welsh team heading to Australia and I will be leading a highly motivated and well prepared group of players.

“Most of us have played together for the Celtic Dragons in Netball Superleague and the Welsh team for the past few seasons, so the team spirit and understanding is excellent.

“We had a really tough draw at the Commonwealth Games last year, being in the same pool as Australia, England and South Africa, but we learned a huge amount in Scotland.

“We’ve progressed almost beyond recognition since then and we will head down under hoping to fulfil our potential and challenge for a best ever finishing position.

"It is a huge tournament for the players, Wales and the sport as a whole and we intend to fully play our part.”

Wales host England at Merthyr Leisure Centre on Wednesday (July 8) before they depart for Tasmania.

They will face an Australian Centre of Excellence side, Scotland and then Tassie Spirit in warm-up fixtures before heading to Sydney for the World Cup itself, where they are in a group with Fiji, Uganda and Zambia. Wales will launch their campaign against Fiji on Friday, August 7.

Suzy splits her netball career with working as a lecturer in Sport Development and Performance Sport at Cardiff Met University. Her family live in Waverton.

WALES WORLD CUP SQUAD

PLAYER AGE / CAPS POSITION

Suzy Drane – Captain 28 / 66 Centre Wing Defence

Rosie Pretorius – Vice Captain 28 / 18 Goal Keeper / Goal Defence

Lateisha Kidner 22 / 6 Goal Keeper / Goal Defence

Kelly Morgan 28 / 18 Goal Defence / Goal Keeper

Stephanie Williams 29 / 42 Goal Defence / Wing Defence

Kyra Jones 27 / 26 Centre Wing Defence

Nic James 25 / 40 Wing Attack Centre

Bethan Dyke 20 / 13 Wing Attack Centre

Emma Thomas 24 / 25 Goal Attack / Goal Shooter

Sara Bell 25 / 3 Goal Attack / Goal Shooter

Chelsea Lewis 21 / 42 Goal Shooter / Goal Attack

Georgia Rowe 19 / 2 Goal Shooter / Goal Attack

Netball World Cup Pools

Pool A: Australia (1) New Zealand (2) Barbados (9) Trinidad & Tobago (10)

Pool B: England (3), Jamaica (4), Scotland (11), Samoa (13)

Pool C: Malawi (5), South Africa (6), Singapore (17), Sri Lanka (24)

Pool D: Fiji (7), Wales (8), Uganda (14), Zambia (18)

*World rankings as at 17 May, 2015 in brackets.

Wales Warm-Up Games

Wednesday, July 8: Wales v England (Merthyr Leisure Centre) 7pm

Thursday, July 30: Wales v Australia Centre of Excellence (Silverdome) 5pm (local time)

Saturday, August 1: Wales v Scotland (Derwent Entertainment Centre) 7pm (local time)

Monday, August 3: Wales v Tassie Spirit (Hobart Netball & Sport Centre) 7.00pm (local time)

Netball World Cup – Preliminary Round

Pool D: Friday, August 7: Wales v Fiji (Netball Central) TBC

Pool D: Sunday, August 9: Wales v Zambia (Allphones Arena) 10.20 am (local time)

Pool D: Monday, August 10: Wales v Uganda (Allphones Arena) 5.20pm (local time)

Qualification Rounds Matches (11-14 August)

Play Off & Placing Matches (15-16 August)