Hockey: Black Sticks draw with Australia

New Zealand Black Sticks Anita Punt. Photo / Greg Bowker.

The result wasn't they wanted but the Black Sticks' 3-3 draw with Australia in Wellington last night gave them a decent workout ahead of their trip to the Champions Trophy in Argentina.

The New Zealand women were 17 seconds away from a series-levelling victory, having drawn one and lost one to world No 2 Australia in their rubber over the last four days.

However possession was lost, the ball crossed in from the right and Ashleigh Nelson controlled a high bouncing ball to bag the equaliser.

It was a savage blow for the Black Sticks who had the better of decent chunks of the game, even though captain Anita Punt wasn't happy with some aspects of their performance.

''We just lacked a lot of combination up front and in holding possession," the energetic midfielder said.

''Myself, I threw away stupid balls. We just weren't on key."

Even so, they led early through goals by Stacey Michelsen and Olivia Merry. The Aussies fought back with goals to Jodie Kenny and Kathryn Slattery but when Michelsen got clear and rammed home her second ball 10 minutes from the end, the fourth-ranked Black Sticks had the chance to head to Mendoza, Argentina in a winning frame of mind.
Instead Australia had the last laugh.

''It's about the leading up," Punt said in assessing the good points out of the series.
''Because we're not centralised we have to learn on the job, learn new combinations as we play games.

''When it gets to a tournament it takes us a while to gel. Hopefully doing this now when we get to Argentina we will be a lot more in tune with each other."

The key workons for the squad? ''Basics and our connections on and off the ball," she said.

New Zealand will play Japan, the world No 1 Netherlands and China in their pool at the Champions Trophy, which starts on November 29.