The Malawi Queens clung to their number one position on Africa ranking and fifth in the world.
They have since qualified for the Australia 2015 World Championship.
International Netball Federation (INF) published the latest periodic rankings on Monday with South Africa, placed sixth in the world and second on the continent, and Malawi as the only African teams in the top-10 band.
“Following the publication of these rankings, the INF can confirm that Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Malawi and South Africa now officially qualify for participation in the Netball World Cup 2015,” reads INF website.
The Queens are in England warming up for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland. The games will have an effect on the rankings that are released every July.
Others in the top 10 are Fiji, Wales (who played the Queens on Monday in an international test match), Barbados and Scotland rated seventh, eight, ninth and 10th respectively.
Australia have convincingly moved to the top slot, with a rating of 189, pushing New Zealand back into second place with a rating of 177. The new ratings take into account results from recent events which have taken place between the 2nd April and end June 2014, read www.netball.org.
England maintain third position with 163. However, they are edging closer to New Zealand with only a 14-point difference, and widening their gap with Jamaica who have just kept their fourth ranked position on 137. Jamaica now face close challenges from Malawi on 136 and sixth place South Africa on 133.
The rest of the top 10 remain the same, however, Scotland has risen from 12 in the rankings to 11, taking Northern Ireland’s slot and pushing them back to 12, reads the website.
Other notable moves are Tanzania, moving up two places to 14 and Canada moving up three places to 20 and St Lucia dropping three places to 18.
Two teams, India and Lesotho lose their rankings having failed to play eight matches since July 1 2011 and St Vincent lose their rating altogether, having not played at all in the last three years.
There are 33 ranked netball teams in the world with four of them on stand-by due to inactivity. Teams can lose their rank if inactive. The United States are 29th whereas Israel occupy the last 33rd provisional slot.
