Hockey: Creditable draw earns place in semifinals

The Black Sticks were the only team at the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur to go through pool play unbeaten following a creditable scoreless draw with the Netherlands in their final match.

The draw allowed both teams to go through to the semifinals, much to the disgust of the Pakistanis who had earlier been upset 2-0 by Argentina.

That gave Argentina their first points of the tournament. Any result other than a draw would have allowed Pakistan to progress.

Against the Dutch, in a game delayed by almost an hour after the earlier game had been stalled following a torrential downpour, the Black Sticks had to fight bravely in the first spell with goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex pulling off a couple of vital saves.

The second half was a different story with New Zealand dominant and denied only by some good defensive work by the world's second-ranked nation.

Surprisingly, the penalty corner count was very low. The Dutch forced one in the first half and two when they broke away in the second. New Zealand did not win one penalty corner.

New Zealand booked their place in last night's second of two semifinals (against top seeds Australia) with a 3-2 win over Argentina in the tournament opener and draws with Pakistan and the Netherlands.

Team manager Peter Miskimmin said the Black Sticks had played some good hockey in the steamy, difficult conditions.

North Harbour's Ben Collier and Lloyd Stephenson had made an impact off the bench in all three games, he said.

The draw against the Netherlands was especially satisfying for 25-year-old defender Dean Couzins.

The match was his 100th international.

Goalkeeper Paul Woolford, who was named to start against Australia, is up to 98 games for New Zealand but will have to wait until the World Cup, or at least one of the warm-up matches in Europe, to reach his century.

In the other semifinal, India were to play the Netherlands.

The final will be played tomorrow night.