The Vitality Roses have overtaken Jamaica and New Zealand to move back up to second – matching their highest position to date – in the International Netball Federation’s World Rankings.
The Roses’ rise in the rankings follows not only their historic gold medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games but more recently their performance in the Vitality Netball International Series, as part of the Netball Quad Series. They defeated the Samsung Diamonds 52-49 on the last day of the series and secured a 54-41 win in a closely-fought opening match against the Silver Ferns.
Discussing England’s rise in the rankings, England Netball CEO, Joanna Adams, said: “We’re thrilled to be back into that second spot!
“Again, this change in the rankings shows how critical investment into our sport is and the impact our full-time programme is having.
“We’re now consistently challenging at the highest level of the sport, it’s fantastic!”
Vitality Roses Head Coach, Tracey Neville commented: “We’re becoming far more consistent against those top teams and what’s most satisfying is that it hasn’t been by accident.
“The full-time programme is paying dividends and the work that the players and staff have been putting in over the last few years has been exceptional.
“The performance against Australia in the recent Netball Quad Series demonstrated how far we’ve come and why we deserve to be up there in the rankings.
“We know we can perform on the biggest stage and it’s a brilliant feeling to have going into the Vitality Netball World Cup later this year.”
For further information on how the rankings are calculated, take a look at the International Netball Federation’s FAQs.
