The Vitality Netball Legends Series, which was scheduled to be played between Jamaica and England later this month, has been postponed due to the extension of the recently implemented United Kingdom (UK) travel ban.

The ban was implemented by the Jamaican Government last month, after it was discovered that a mutated strain of the deadly coronavirus was found to be prevalent in the UK population.  Reports indicate the new strain is 70 percent more transmissible.

The ban was initially set to expire on January 4, two days before the team was scheduled to depart for England.  It has now been extended to the end of the month, which will force an obvious re-planning of the tournament dates.  The four-match Test series is expected to be the first for both teams since the onslaught of the pandemic.

The new series will shift to the summer after the first edition and will see England play a different opponent each year.  Each edition will also see the trophy named after a different legendary English player.  For the first installation of the series, the Sunshine Girls and the Vitality Roses will battle for the Jean Hornsby Cup, named in honour of England Netball’s first black player.

The teams are scheduled to meet again this week to iron out a new timeline for the series to take place but will have to deal with some amount of uncertainty as the ban could yet be further extended.