JULY 1 saw the release of the annual International Netball Federation (INF) World Rankings, with the 2020 update reflecting the most current form of international teams. With little international matches played thus far in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Draft Central breaks down the update and how the suspension of international play has influenced the rankings.

World rankings are crucial for determining nations’ entrance into certain international competitions, with formal updates made following major events and weightings redistributed every July. As of July 1, matches played prior to July 2017 are no longer used to determine rankings, as per the current system, with the INF confirming that “matches played between 1st July 2017 and 30th June 2019 now have a 50% weighting, while those played from 1st July 2019 onwards have a full weighting (100%)”.

Where usually rankings are obtained based on a minimum number of international matches, due to the current circumstances the INF has lowered the amount of matches from eight to six. This allows countries that may not have played matches due to the suspension of international play to retain their ranking.

Fortunately for Australia and despite the nation’s recent losses internationally – namely the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2019 Netball World Cup gold – the nation has retained top spot on the world rankings once more, though current world champions New Zealand are inching up with a higher rating than in past updates. South Africa joins Australia and New Zealand as the only other top five nation to not change its position in fifth.

What are the biggest changes? 

In an unprecedented break from the sport as a whole, there are only a few changes that jump out compared to the most recent update prior to now, on May 29, 2020. England has jumped back into third despite dropping to fourth following the last update, after Jamaica’s performance in the inaugural Vitality Netball Nations Cup saw them overtake the Roses. However, with international matches on hold for longer than expected, the annual ranking update has seen the two nations swap back once more. 

Meanwhile, Malawi has moved back into the top six, seeing a direct positional swap between the Queens and the Uganda She-Cranes. The same goes for Zimbabwe and Barbados, with Zimbabwe’s success in the 2020 Netball World Cup combined with the removal of matches played prior to July 2017 helping the nation jump to 12th on the rankings and Barbados in 13th.

Of the remaining nations, the Cayman Islands moved up two places to 26th while Botswana moved down to 27th and Ireland followed suit, moving down to 28th. Antigua and Barbuda move up to 31st, while the biggest bolt is Namibia who move from 30th down to 23rd, and Lesotho joins the rankings, in at number 40.

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UPDATED TOP 10

TEAM / RATING

1 Australia / 205
2 New Zealand / 182
3 England / 175 (up, from 4th to 3rd)
4 Jamaica / 175 (down, from 3rd to 4th)
5 South Africa / 150
6 Malawi / 126 (up, from 7th to 6th)
7 Uganda / 123 (down, from 6th to 7th)
8 Scotland / 114
9 Wales / 107
10 Trinidad & Tobago / 100

Note: For a full breakdown of how rankings are established, check out the International Netball Federation rankings.

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