The Silver Ferns' international quad series has been cancelled and its constellation cup tests with Australia pushed out until the end of the year, as Netball New Zealand reshapes the team's test schedule due to the impacts of Covid-19.
The quad series, which features South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand, was due to be played in both New Zealand and Australia in September but has now been scrapped in the interests of player and fan safety.
"All four participating nations have together looked at various scenarios to see if we could make it work," Netball New Zealand's head of high performance Keir Hansen said in a media update today.
"However, we all agreed that due to the impact of Covid-19 on international travel cancelling the 2020 netball quad series scheduled for September was the only option."
In place of the quad series, other domestic options are being considered such as the Silver Ferns playing in the Cadbury Netball Series, which last year pitched them up against the men's team.
"Last year we hosted a very successful Cadbury Netball Series that included the NZ Men's Invitational team and the All Stars side. We are now considering all our options for our Cadbury Netball Series which would likely be scheduled in October,” says Hansen.
The annual trans-Tasman contest between the Ferns and the Diamonds is still set to go ahead travel permitting.
"The annual four-match constellation cup test series between the Silver Ferns and Australian Diamonds is still being planned for with the intention of it being held towards the end of 2020, following the completion of the two nations’ domestic leagues and pending travel allowances across the Tasman," the update states.