The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.

First-tier national teams also participated in yearly test series, with others playing in regional events.

Changes to international test rules were finalised at a World Netball (WN) congress in Auckland in 2007, and progressively rolled out across netball-playing countries the following year.

[6] In the Southern Hemisphere, the sport attained semi-professional status in Australia and New Zealand with the introduction of the ANZ Championship.

Australian coach Norma Plummer greeted the new tournament positively: "If you want your sport to keep growing these days, it's got to become up with the times and keep having innovations that make the game exciting for not only the players, but all the spectators.

"[15] But Plummer also expressed some reservations about power plays being used against substantially weaker teams, and also about penalty shootouts and the new centre pass rule.