The International Netball Federation has published the World Rankings to reflect all the fixtures that took place before the suspension of international matches due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
These rankings include the games played in January 2020 at the Vitality Netball Nations Cup. The tournament saw New Zealand, England, South Africa, and Jamaica compete across 4 venues in England, with New Zealand becoming the 2020 Vitality Netball Nations Cup champions.
The World Rankings see one change in position, with Jamaica (who were runners up at the Vitality Nations Cup) moving up to 3rd marginally ahead of England who move down to 4th, they both have a rating of 172. New Zealand remains 2nd; their rating increases from 179 to 182 closing the gap with Australia in 1st position and South Africa stay in 5th with an improved rating of 148.
A number of international fixtures have been cancelled or postponed including the Hong Kong Series in February, the OECS/ECCB International Netball Event planned for May/June in Antigua & Barbuda and a number of other test matches between INF Member nations.
INF is delighted to see some of our Member countries starting to emerge from lockdown as their governments remove some of the restrictions that were put in place to protect health and wellbeing and reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There is a return to training in small groups for some countries and some domestic elite netball will return behind closed doors in June. Full details of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on INF Members may be found in our recent member survey.
The INF will carry out the annual update to World Rankings as usual at the end of June 2020 and matches from the period July 1st 2016 to June 30th 2017 will no longer be taken into consideration for ranking purposes. As the ability to play is restricted the INF has decided to reduce the threshold for the number of international matches from 8 down to 6 matches over the ranking period for this year.
However, the timing of the return of international netball is not yet clear. INF is working with its Members on a safe return to play taking into account the relevant government guidance.
The INF Board is consulting with its Members regarding the treatment of World Rankings during the return to international play.
Click here for the full table.
Click here for Impact of COVID-19 Member Survey