The Silver Ferns could play up to six tests in the build-up to their likely gold-medal showdown with Australia at next year's Commonwealth Games.
None of those games, however, will be against the world champions.
Although next year's international calendar has not been set, Netball New Zealand chief executive Shelley McMeeken confirmed
yesterday that a re-match with Australia was not on the agenda ahead of the Manchester Games in July-August.
After the 50-46 series-deciding loss to Australia on Saturday night, McMeeken said the New Zealanders hoped to stage a three-test series overseas in late February or early March, and a home series in June.
McMeeken said both series were still being negotiated.
She was coy on whom the Ferns would play, but coach Yvonne Willering said "attempts were being made" to play one of the series against a team from the Caribbean.
Willering said the style of netball played by teams such as Jamaica was unlike any other in the world.
"I understand Australia and England are going there before the Games start, and we need to get some play against them under our belt, too," she said.
Willering and McMeeken said a test series against Australia was off-limits.
"They don't want to play us and we don't especially want to play them next year," Willering said.
Meanwhile, after a long deliberation, Silver Ferns captain Bernice Mene has decided to prolong her career.
Mene, 26, yesterday ended retirement speculation.
The 78-test veteran wanted to gauge how she felt after the series with Australia.
Length of time in the team, injury problems and a desire to travel have played their part in Mene's deliberations.
A towering presence in the Silver Ferns defence line, Mene first made the team as a 17-year-old schoolgirl. A degenerative knee problem has threatened to derail her career several times in the past and often left Mene weighing up her future.
A desire to play in the Commonwealth Games and perhaps the world championships in 2003 helped to make up Mene's mind.
She also decided to continue her relationship with the Southern Sting in Invercargill in the Coca-Cola Cup competition.
- NZPA
