Hockey: Muirhead plays toughest game

Suzie Muirhead played her 218th international in the Black Sticks' 0-0 draw with arch-rivals Australia in their opening match of the Indira Gandhi Cup in New Delhi.

The conditions, she suggested, were "probably the toughest I have played in".

The 35C-plus temperatures for the match which started at 3pm (local time) made it difficult for the 16 players New Zealand coach Ian Rutledge was able to use for the match.

Not surprisingly, Rutledge opted to go with just one goalkeeper - Anita Wawatai, who turned in what was a match-saving performance - and take the extra field player as a substitute.

"We made 25 substitutions during the game," Rutledge said. "In the end, our superior fitness showed and could have led to a late winner.

"We had one attempt saved on the line with two minutes to play and at the final hooter we hit the post from a penalty corner."

It was the closest New Zealand have come to beating Australia since their 3-0 win in Sydney in July 2000. Australia are playing at the tournament as the third-ranked team in the world. New Zealand are three places lower.

"I'm happy with the result but the penalty count against us was a bit higher than I would have liked. We were a bit hesitant in getting forward and there were some soft decisions which went against us. Having said that, Anita played well and was probably the standout," said Rutledge, who was also encouraged by the debut efforts from Kate Mahon, Krystal Forgesson and Bridget Kight.

"It was a solid effort for our first game together since July. There were a lot of positives. Hopefully we will get to play Australia again in Saturday's final."

In other games, India beat Malaysia 2-1 and Italy 5-0.

Rutledge was not expecting any easy games with some teams - Italy and Malaysia in particular - intent on playing very defensively.