The England senior men and women's basketball teams will both be playing at the Coventry Skydome Arena on Saturday.

The first of the two internationals sees England Women play Scotland in the Eye Group International Challenge Game, tipping off at 4.15 pm.

It will be the first match under the new coaching team of Brani Bazany and former England captain Vanessa Ellis.

Bazany said:

"The game against Scotland will be an excellent start to our 2001 programme as the women are beginning their preparations for the forthcoming European Qualifying Tournament in Limerick, Ireland in May.”

The Senior Men will then take centre stage when their game against Hungary tips off at 7.30 pm.

By the time they walk on court to face the Hungarians they will already have travelled to Belgium for team preparation and played Croatia just a few days before.

The games against Croatia and Hungary must be won in order for England to qualify for the European Finals taking place in September.

If both games are lost England will face the arduous task of going through preliminary qualifying rounds to compete in the 2003 European Championships.

Both games are to have full commentary and score updates on the National Teams page of www.basketballengland.org.uk.

The score will be displayed point-by-point and there will be details of all the highlights as well as statistical information from fouls, rebounds, free throws, steals and turnovers at quarterly intervals and other breaks in play.