Hockey: Classy Shaw gives Black Sticks three grounds for optimism

Having classy defender Hayden Shaw back for this week's World Cup qualifying series in Fiji should have a three-pronged benefit for New Zealand, according to coach Kevin Towns.

The big Cantabrian is among the world's finest penalty corner exponents. He took a sabbatical from hockey to concentrate on cricket for the last year.

Now he's back as a Black Stick and starting against world No 1 Australia in Suva today.

Tomorrow they play hosts Fiji, who are so lowly rated they don't figure among the world's top 68-ranked nations, and Australia meet Fiji on Thursday with the top two meeting in the final on Saturday.

New Zealand are ranked No 9, with just two draws alongside 12 losses in their 14 transtasman clashes since 2000.

But the Australians are without a couple of key midfielders and Shaw is back in black, which gives Towns plenty of encouragement.

"From an international game point of view, he may well struggle for legs, not because he's unfit but he'll be playing at a different intensity than he has for quite some time," Towns said from Suva yesterday.

"His general skills are in pretty good touch."

Towns puts 25-year-old Shaw's value to the side in three parts: his ability to produce a whistling shot from the crucial set piece penalty corner; the fact opponents are more reluctant to concede them, therefore taking care not to infringe and giving the forwards more space to work in; and his powerful, accurate distribution from the back which enables New Zealand to spread the game over a wider stretch of the pitch.

The record against Australia is irrelevant to Towns. But he does concede Australia's depth of talent and ability to give new players plenty of international game time makes it difficult for the Black Sticks, who operate with a smaller pool of players, and have less time together.

He expects there will be a degree of caginess from both camps in today's pool game, with an eye on an expected final on Saturday.

But he also believes Australia will have a real crack today, take some chances and try to win the mini-battles around the pitch to stamp their authority ahead of the final.

The winner will advance to the World Cup in Moenchengladbach, Germany from September 6-17 next year; the loser heads to a final qualifying tournament in Changzhou City, China from April 12-23.

New Zealand squad

* Goalkeepers: Paul Woolford (Auckland), Kyle Pontifex (Wellington).

* Defenders: Hayden Shaw, Shea McAleese (Canterbury), Blair Hopping, Shaun Barnett (North Harbour), Richard Petherick (Waikato), Dean Couzins (Auckland).

* Midfielders: Simon Towns, Ryan Archibald (Auckland), Mitesh Patel (Wellington), Darren Smith, Bryce Collins (North Harbour).

* Strikers: Dave Kosoof, Lloyd Stevenson (North Harbour), Bevan Hari, Gareth Brooks (Auckland), Phil Burrows (Wellington).