By Stephanie Smarrelli
In 2016, netball entered a new era.
The Netball Quad Series was born, bringing Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa together for the first time in a series since 2012.
The series, originally called the International Netball Super Series’ aim was to provide a world-class international competition on a regular basis that would also be a stepping stone to grow the game globally.
And it’s not just a friendly tournament. There’s a trophy on the line which four of the best netball nations in the world compete for.
Australia defeated New Zealand by five goals to claim the inaugural series in 2016.
There were two iterations of the series in 2017 one in January and February and one that ran through August and September.
The Diamonds won the first series in 2016.The Origin Australian Diamonds were victorious once again in early 2017 with a thrilling 47 to 46 win in the final against England. While in the latter series the Diamonds lost to New Zealand with the Silver Ferns winning their only Quad Series trophy by 10 goals.
In 2018 the four nations met twice throughout the year again.
The Diamonds completed a clean sweep of victories in January and defeated New Zealand by 19 goals to win back the trophy.
Then when the four teams competed in September, the Diamonds were successful again with the team lifting the trophy for a second time that year.
The January 2019 Quad Series ended with the Diamonds winning once again, however, it was a tight race with the team losing the final match to England but the Roses failed to win by a large enough margin to steal the trophy.
With the Quad Series unable to go ahead in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic it was not until January 2022 that the four nations competed again to be Quad Series champions.
The Roses challenged the Diamonds for the trophy in 2019.At the 2022 Quad Series, the Diamonds catapulted into a strong year of netball with their win over England making it the fourth time the Diamonds held the trophy in a row.
Chasing a fifth consecutive Quad Series victory and with the World Cup to be played later this year, the upcoming series will be a teaser of what is to come in 2023.
Still in the green and gold for the Diamonds from the inaugural 2016 series are current Diamonds captain Liz Watson and vice-captain Steph Wood who will lead the way at the Quad Series in Cape Town.
With Cape Town to also hold the World Cup this year every team will be aiming to make the most out of the opportunity to play each other and learn their opponents' strengths and weaknesses as well as their own while on South African soil.
Tune into the 2023 Quad Series live and exclusively on Fox Sports, available through Kayo Freebies and Foxtel.
FIXTURE (all dates and times in AEDT)
January 22, 2023
1:00am - Spar Proteas vs Silver Ferns
3:00am - Australia vs Vitality Roses
January 23, 2023
1:00am - Spar Proteas vs Vitality Roses
3:00am - Australia vs Silver Ferns
January 25, 2023
1:00am - Vitality Roses vs Silver Ferns
3:00am - Spar Proteas vs Australia
January 26, 2023
1:00am - 3rd & 4th play offs
3:00am - FINALS
