World Netball (WN) has released the latest WN World Rankings which follows the annual update performed to ensure that the rankings reflect the most current form of the international teams.
The last annual update took place on 1st July 2020, however due to COVID very few international matches took place between 1st July 2020 – 30th June 2021, therefore the decision was made by the WN Board, on the recommendation of statistician David Kendix, to delay the 2021 annual update until after the final qualification date for the Commonwealth Games, which was 31st January 2022. The deferral has allowed more time for each team to retain their ranking, which requires six matches to have been played since 1st July 2018.
130 matches were played in the 20-month period from July 2020 – February 2022, which is comparable to the average of 160 matches played in the previous three 12-month periods.
Following the annual update, matches played in the 12 months ending 30th June 2018 have been removed, whilst matches played in the year ending 30th June 2020 have had their weighting reduced from 100%, to 50%. All matches played since 1st July 2020 still have a full weighting (100%).
The latest rankings see’s the top three remain the same with Australia in 1st, followed by New Zealand in 2nd and England in 3rd. However, New Zealand has closed the gap significantly between 1st and 2nd, from 17 points down to 5 points.
The first change in ranking positions can be seen at 8th, as Wales has moved up one place into this position, with a significant 10-point jump from 110 to 120, the largest points gain by any team. Other ranking movements amongst the leading teams sees Scotland now at 9th, Barbados 12th, Zimbabwe 13th, Fiji 15th and Samoa 16th.
Further down the table, the Isle of Man (IOM) and UAE have both climbed fives places. IOM now sits in 23rd with a rating of 43, whilst the UAE is now 25th with a rating of 39. Two teams (Israel and Tonga) have lost their ranking due to not reaching the minimum number of matches required.
The World Netball Board will now decide when the next annual update will take place to ensure the integrity of the rankings is upheld and the rankings continue to present a true reflection of the quality and standing of the performance of international teams.
You can view the full WN World Rankings table here.
You can view the top six Birmingham 2022 qualifiers here.