Maher cuts pair from GB squad

Kate Butters and Georgia Jones have been cut from the Great Britain women's squad as coach Tom Maher reduced the numbers to 14.

Maher reduced the numbers ahead of next week's trip to Croatia.

Butters was one of a small number of holdovers from the inaugural GB squad in 2006, while Jones is a promising young guard.

Only two more cuts are now needed before Maher has his final list of 12 names for London.

The team will now head to Croatia for their first friendlies of the summer, with Maher impressed by their progress after a three-week training camp in Guildford.

"We have quality players," Maher said. "We're not going to be the most loaded team. We're not going to have a bunch of 6-foot-5 gazelles. But we're going to be a competitive team.

"We've had a real fillip with one girl coming in for her first year in Temi Fagbenle. She's special.

"But everybody is so much more professional. Their IQ is better. They've taken a leap forward."

Fagbenle, 19, spent last summer with the U20 squad but has given herself a great chance of making the Olympic squad, while another uncapped player, Dominique Allen, also remains in contention.

The two games against Croatia on Monday and Tuesday are the first of 17 warm-up fixtures that will also see them travel to Belgium, Turkey, China and the Czech Republic, as well as Edinburgh, Sheffield and Manchester.