England’s Commonwealth Games-winning Roses secured a 2-1 series win over South Africa under new Head Coach Jess Thirlby.

Back-to-back wins in Cape Town sealed the series for the Roses before ending the third and final test match in defeat.

It marks a first series win for Thirlby who succeeded Tracey Neville this summer.

With a new look squad captained by Natalie Haythornthwaite, England set the ball rolling with a 63-58 series opening win in extra time.

The squad, which also featured Gold Coast gold medallists Jade Clarke and Kadeen Corbin, then repeated their success with a 59-53 win in the second test as the dead rubber final match ended 54-48 in favour of the Proteas.

Kenny claims silver in Hong Kong

Jason Kenny claimed a silver medal in the keirin as the Track Cycling World Cup rolled into Hong Kong.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games medallist missed out on a place on the podium at last month’s World Cup event in Glasgow, but wasn’t to miss out this time as the 31-year-old took silver behind New Zealand’s Callum Saunders, who won in 10.199 seconds.

Three World Cup events remain with the opportunity of Olympic qualification points available for next year’s Games in Tokyo.