The Silver Ferns will host England in a three-match test series next month, with all matches to be played in Christchurch to minimise additional travel risks.
The first test is scheduled for Monday, September 20, with the second and third tests on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, as the series will be completed in five days.
England boarded a flight on Thursday (NZ time), and will go into managed quarantine upon arrival in Christchurch. Netball New Zealand continues to work with the government around the evolving Covid-19 outbreak and alert levels.
Following the series, England are preparing to extend their tour across the Tasman with a series against the Australian Diamonds.
Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennie Wyllie said the latest Covid-19 outbreak has added a great deal of complexity around organising the series.
“It is exciting to host England on our shores again. I would like to acknowledge the huge amount of work that both England Netball, Netball Australia and our NNZ team have worked tirelessly over a period of many months to enable the tour to get to this point,” she said.
“We have been working closely with government, Sport NZ and High Performance Sport NZ over many months to facilitate this tour, we want to ensure our athletes have the best possible opportunities to compete as we head towards the Commonwealth Games in 2022, however the health and safety of our players, administrators and fans is our priority and we will continue to follow all government guidance.”
Tickets will be released for the matches if and when Christchurch moves to alert Level 1.