Hockey New Zealand has accepted a late invitation for the Black Sticks Men to join Holland, Germany and India at the exclusive 4 Nations Punjab Gold Cup – to be played from January 31st to February 9th in Chandigarh, India.
Accepting the invitation allows the Black Sticks to get a taste of playing in India – the venue for the 2010 World Cup and Commonwealth Games. With India already confirmed for a four test series against the Black Sticks in NZ in late February – it is also an opportunity to gauge the threat that a rebuilding Indian team will pose.
The 18 to play India in late February makes up the bulk of the touring side, however with Bryce Collins and Brad Shaw unavailable, North Harbour’s Priyesh Bhana and Wellington’s Blair Hilton will become Black Sticks for the first time. Bhana and Hilton will join David Green and Shay Neal (North Harbour) and Joel Baker (Wellington) as debutants on the tour. Bhana has been excelling in the Belgium club competition, while Hilton has been rewarded after his strong performances for the Junior Black Sticks in Australia last month.
Established Black Sticks Ryan Archibald, Blair Hopping, David Kosoof, Hayden Shaw, Ben Collier and Shay McAleese will miss the India tour – all six players had already been unavailable for the late February India test series.
In the absence of Archibald, Collier, McAleese and Collins – all inside forwards, Coach Shane McLeod will run Phil Burrows and Steve Edwards in the midfield. Richard Petherick and Andy Hayward will also get an opportunity to become a long term replacement drag flick option to Hayden Shaw.
McLeod is also keen to see some players who could form a key part of the 2010 team and then the 2012 Olympic team. The base of top players is becoming broader and the opportunity for these players to play Germany – the Beijing Gold Medalists and Holland – the world’s 3rd ranked team is great for the development of the players.
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