Atest match innetball is an international match played between two seniornational netball teams. International netball tournaments such as theNetball World Cup,Netball at the Commonwealth Games, theTaini Jamison Trophy, theConstellation Cup and theNetball Quad Series all feature a series' of test matches.[1]
On 20 August 1938, atRoyal Park, Melbourne,Australia defeatedNew Zealand 40–11. This was the first netball Test between Australia and New Zealand. It was also the world's first international netball match.[2][3][4][5][6] The1949 England Scotland Wales Netball Series sawEngland,Scotland andWales all play their debut test matches.[7][8]
The use of the term test is relatively new to netball in comparison tocricket,rugby union andrugby league. It is effectively aloanword. Netball tests are regularly played between Australia, New Zealand, England, andSouth Africa, all of whom have a long history of using the term in other sports.