Hockey: Towns gets chance to blood new players against Malaysia

There is an exciting new look to the New Zealand men's hockey team to play a four-test home series against Malaysia next month.

The unavailability of 10 players from the high-performance squad has paved the way for wholesale changes with 10 players set to make their debut in the tests which will be played at North Harbour, Hamilton and Auckland (2).

Coach Kevin Towns, keen to see the new players in action, will give all players game time in at least two tests. Auckland have eight players in the 21-man squad, NHL champions North Harbour seven, Canterbury three, Wellington two and Waikato one.

Sanjay Patel (Auckland) and Shaun Barnett (North Harbour) have been promoted from the high performance squad to the national side while eight players from the development squad have been given their chance.

"We have 21 players in the squad and we want to see how they perform at the highest level," said Towns. "The tests against Malaysia are being played earlier than originally planned which means the training camp we were to have had in early March has been delayed until May.

"After that camp we will name a fresh squad of 35 players who will take us through to the Commonwealth Games [next March] and World Cup qualifiers and perhaps on to Beijing."

The first serious objective for the team is the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia from May 25-June 5.

"We have just had our invitation for that confirmed," said Towns. "That will be an important tournament for us as we look ahead."

Before that intensive training camp, which will also involve players from the Auckland and North Harbour associations, Towns will conduct a goalkeeping camp to find at least two more keepers to join the squad.

In other changes, the scheduled six-match European tour has been brought forward to late July-early August. The Oceania World Cup qualifier, likely to be a best-of-three series with Australia, is now likely to be played in November rather than next February as originally planned.

"There is a lot of hockey to be played this year but it is important we see the players in action as much as possible," said Towns. "With so many players unavailable for the series against Malaysia we have been given a bonus opportunity to look at many young players."

Malaysia will come here under new coach Wallace Town who has taken over from German Paul Lissek. He was dumped after Malaysia failed to qualify for last year's Olympics.

New Zealand team

Side to play Malaysia in four-test home series: Hamish Baron, Simon Child, Cain Fleming, Dion Gosling, Wayne McIndoe, Sanjay Patel, Dharmesh Puna, Paul Woolford (Auckland), Jason Bradley, Hugh Copland, Brad Shaw (Canterbury), Shaun Barnett, Ben Collier, Bryce Collins, Blair Hopping, David Kosoof, Darren Smith, Lloyd Stephenson (North Harbour), Richard Petherick (Waikato), Tim Gyles, Kyle Pontifex (Wellington).

Schedule: March 22, North Harbour; 24, Hamilton; 26, Auckland; 27, Auckland.