Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have further cemented their grip on third place in the latest World Netball (WN) rankings, and with it, they also narrowed the gap on leaders Australia from 15 to 12 rating points.
The Jamaicans, who recently swept South Africa 3-0 in the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series, saw their rating points climb from 189 to 192. This puts them just three points behind second-place New Zealand (195) while extending their lead over fourth-place England from one point to seven points.
England’s rating dropped from 188 to 185 following recent results, as the top five teams remain unchanged, with Australia (204) still leading, but the Silver Ferns have also closed the gap on the top spot, reducing their deficit from 12 to nine points.
Jamaica’s steady rise comes on the back of impressive performances over the past year. Their historic 2-1 series win over England in the Horizon Series last year first saw them leapfrog England for third place, and their dominant home series against South Africa further solidified their standing.
This latest ranking update reflects the most current form of international teams and includes an annual revision that removes older results from July 2020 to February 2022, while halving the weight of matches played from March 2023 to February 2024.
With their strong recent form, the Sunshine Girls have firmly positioned themselves as contenders for a higher spot, and with the upcoming Netball World Cup cycle, they will be looking to close the gap on New Zealand and Australia even further.
Meanwhile, several Caribbean nations continue to feature in the rankings, though there have been some shifts. Trinidad and Tobago remains 11th with 94 rating points; St Vincent and the Grenadines holds 17th (75 points); Barbados is now 19th (72 points); Grenada is 21st (56 points); St Maarten (24th, 50 points), St Lucia (35th, 27 points), and St Kitts and Nevis (37th, 22 points) have all seen minor movements.
Cayman Islands (39th, 18 points) and British Virgin Islands (42nd, 10 points) remain in the lower half, while Antigua and Barbuda (44th, 9 points) suffered the biggest drop, as they fell six places after older, stronger results were removed.
Other notable changes globally include Wales moving into the top six for the first time, Zambia jumping two spots to 15th, and Botswana climbing four places to 20th.