England’s selectors have surprised many with the squad named to face Trinidad & Tobago in the upcoming test series in May. , while Australian-born Sally Butters is named in the squad to compete at the Netball Europe championships for the first time – she qualifies for England through her father’s nationality, and is a British passport holder. Naida Hutchinson returns to contention for an England place after a lengthy injury break. The test series will be the first challenge for interim head coach Tracey Neville in her new role, for which England will be without its ANZ Championships players. The full England line up for the Trinidad & Tobago test series is: Sara Bayman, Sam Cook, Pamela Cookey, Kadeen Corbin, Sasha Corbin, Rachel Dunn, Stacey Francis, Layla Guscoth, Natalie Haythornthwaite, Helen Housby, Laura Malcolm, Sonia Mkoloma*. Reserves: Sonia Candappa and Naida Hutchinson *. 
The England squad to contest the Netball Europe championships in Belfast is Sara Bayman, Sally Butters*, Sam Cook, Pamela Cookey, Kadeen Corbin, Rachel Dunn, Stacey Francis, Tamsin Greenway*, Layla Guscoth, Helen Housby, Laura Malcolm, Sonia Mkoloma*. Reserves Sasha Corbin and Lindsay Keable.
*Subject to athlete agreement and screening
England’s netballers should be wary: the Jamaican national squad has its close rival in its sights, thanks to the latest international world rankings released by the INF. Following the Sunshine Girls’ 2-1 series win over the English in January, only 12 points now separate the two teams in the latest positional list, adding extra spice to the encounters between the two set to take place in Sydney. Thailand enters the rankings for the first time in 32nd place, after completing eight international matches during the qualifying period, while Hong Kong moves up to 27 from 25, and Zimbabwe and the USA each dropping down a place. Scotland and Northern Ireland swap places, with the Thistles now ranked 11th and the Irish dropping to 12th. For the full rankings list, and information about how positions are calculated, please visit www.netball.org
Mary Waya’s coaching contract with Malawi has expired, according to press reports this week. President of the Netball Association of Malawi, Rose Chinunda, confirmed that the contract expired in February, but that the association is confident of extending Waya’s employment for another year, before the country faces South Africa in a warm up test series for the World Netball Championships.
World champions Australia will be without one of their most dominant centre courters for the World Cup in Sydney, after WA Madi Robinson suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Melbourne Vixens 53-47 loss to the West Coast Fever in this week’s round of ANZ Championship matches. Robinson, twice winner of Netball Australia’s highest honour – the Liz Ellis Diamond, for player of the year – now faces a full knee reconstruction and lengthy rehab to be fit for the 2016 ANZ Championships season.
Adelaide Thunderbirds head coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson has announced she will step down from her role at the end of the ANZ Championships season. Woodlands-Thompson, one of just two foundation coaches still working in the league, is the only coach to have won two Championships titles, in 2010 and 2013, and has coached more matches than any other coach in the league (107). She has made the announcement now to enable the side to take time to identify and name her replacement.
