Hockey: India fight hard to tie series

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The New Zealand women's hockey team blew a 2-0 lead in their four-match series with India at the weekend, ending up sharing the series 2-2.

They lost the third test in Auckland on Saturday and the final in Hamilton yesterday by the same scoreline, 0-1

The Black Sticks had raced to a 2-0 lead with victories in the opening tests in Whangarei and North Harbour. But the visitors, ranked 15th in the world, finished strongly.

Yesterday's match was played on a relatively new but well-soaked surface in front of a good crowd of about 1400, despite the wettest conditions of the series.

The only goal in Saturday's third test, at Auckland Grammar School, came inside 45s when Sanggai Chanu put the finishing touch to a cross after a defensive lapse.

Yesterday, the match-winner came from a penalty-corner deflection by Jothi Sunita Kullu in the 22nd minute.

New Zealand forced a number of penalty corners in the first two tests. But there were few such opportunities at the weekend. In fact, the home side trailed 2-4 in the count yesterday.

Indian coach A. K. Bansal was thrilled with the result against the world's sixth-ranked team.

"We are rebuilding with 10 new girls from our junior World Cup side," he said. "New Zealand are a good side, and we are happy to have beaten them not once, but twice."

Mandy Smith, New Zealand's sharpest attacking weapon, saw little of the ball, despite moving between the right wing and a more central role.

A falloff in their individual skills, especially with a number of missed traps and too much dribbling rather than the much-needed passing game, gave New Zealand only a handful of half chances to get back into the game. Young defender Lizzy Igasan continued to show the benefits of recent international play - in the drawn series with South Korea and then the junior World Cup in Argentina - with another solid game in the third test and a player-of-the-day effort yesterday.

Newcomer Niniwa Roberts celebrated her selection with three goals in the series and appears certain to hold her place in a fortnight when coach Jan Borren names the 16 players he will take to the Champions Trophy in August.

With Moira Senior and Lisa Walton still out of contention through injury, there are unlikely to be many changes for that tournament, which brings together the world's top six nations.