Hockey: Archibald to get captaincy

Ryan Archibald is set to captain the New Zealand team in the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia.

It would be no surprise if Archibald then takes those reins through to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Coach Kevin Towns confirmed yesterday that the experienced trio of his son Simon - long-time captain of the side - defender Dion Gosling and midfielder Wayne McIndoe are not available for the May tournament for business reasons.

"While these players have made themselves unavailable there are others who missed the series against Malaysia who will come back into the side," Towns said yesterday.

"I'm going to Australia this weekend to watch their national league final in which Casey Henwood will play for Canberra and Shea McAleese for Tasmania.

"We also know that Gareth Brooks, Phil Burrows, James Nation and Dean Couzins are available," Towns said. "These players along with those who played against Malaysia will all be considered."

Towns will name the 17-strong squad for the Azlan Shah tournament on Thursday week. A couple of weeks later he will name teams to play trial matches as part of a July training camp.

"I will watch the game against the Northern Selection and Malaysia at Lloyd Elsmore Park [at 5.30pm today] as part of that selection process."

Beyond the training camp, Towns' attention will turn towards the Melbourne Commonwealth Games next March and then the World Cup qualifiers.

While he will not be drawn too deeply on the subject, it seems drag flick expert Hayden Shaw could come back into the fold next year after one or two seasons of cricket. "Naturally we would like to see him back - it would be something to see him playing alongside his brother Brad in defence - but we understand his situation and are happy for him to play cricket until he is ready to return."

That could be in time for the World Cup matches.

Of the four tests against Malaysia, Towns said Brad Shaw, Ben Collier, Richard Petherick and Shaun Barnett had shown out among the younger players while Cain Fleming, Tim Gyles, Hamish Baron and Sanjay Patel had made the most of their opportunities.

He was also pleased with the way Bryce Collins played on his return to the international arena.

"I will sit down with him and see how he feels about taking on a heavier workload. If we take only 17 players to Azlan Shah we have to be confident we have the players to cover all contingencies," Towns said. "I am keen to take a professional person to do the video analysis which will restrict us to 17 players."

He has included New Zealanders Paul Woolford, Patel, Collier and Barnett along with Archibald in the Northern team for tonight's game.

Northern Selection

Paul Woolford, Dan Shaw, Rakesh Parsotam, John Child, Andrew Newson, Shane Maddaford, David Samuels, Ryan Archibald, Troy Hari, Simon Brill, David Green, Sanjay Patel, Ben Collier, Shaun Barnett, Taine Bennett.