England’s netball team will have a new face at the helm for this summer’s Netball World Cup after former player Tracey Neville was placed in interim charge following the departure of national head coach Anna Mayes.

Appointed head coach of the national side back in November 2011, Mayes guided England to a fourth-place finish at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The team had won bronze at the two previous games and came agonisingly close to an appearance in the 2014 final before losing 35-34 in the dying seconds to eventual silver-medallists New Zealand before seeing a medal slip through their fingers with a 52-48 reverse to Jamaica.

This summer sees the squad travel to Australia for the World Cup in Sydney with England netball opting to part company with Mayes on Thursday.

Neville, who played for the national team in the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games before retiring in 2008, will instead lead the side on an interim basis.

She will also remain in charge of Superleague champions Manchester Thunder until the end of the season.

Neville said: "I'm delighted to accept this opportunity, it’s a great challenge and I am looking forward to the World Cup and working with the players.”

England took bronze at the last World Cup in Singapore behind champions Australia and runners-up New Zealand.

And with Neville having enjoyed coaching success at domestic level, Joanna Adams, England Netball CEO, was confident of further success, this time with the international side.

“Tracey has a proven track record both in her playing and coaching career,” she said.

“She has achieved fantastic results with Manchester Thunder in the Netball Superleague and we firmly believe Tracey is the right person to lead us into the 2015 Netball World Cup.”

© Sportsbeat 2015