Hockey: Strong squad for home series

Unlike national women's squad coach Mark Hager, who was forced to spread the net far and wide for recent matches against Argentina and China, Black Sticks men's coach Shane McLeod has a tried and tested team for the upcoming five-test home series with Malaysia.

Every player in McLeod's 20-strong squad has played internationally.

Only three players have played less than 20 games for New Zealand and at the other end of the scale, six, soon to be seven, have played more than 100 internationals.

New captain Phil Burrows leads the way on 216 - three more than Ryan Archibald who handed over the captaincy to concentrate on his own game.

At just 21 years of age, Simon Child will join the "100 club" with his second appearance in the series while Dave Kosoof and Hayden Shaw are closing in on their 150th caps and Blair Hopping his 200th.

McLeod will use all players in the series from August 9-16 in Palmerston North, Napier and Taupo before trimming it to 18 for the key Oceania Cup tournament in Invercargill later in the month.

After being forced to use less experienced players this year, McLeod has welcomed back Dean Couzins, Shaw, Archibald, Burrows, Ben Collier and Kyle Pontifex from their European clubs.

Of his likely selections for Invercargill, McLeod said: "It is difficult to make some comparisons between players and we want to make sure we take the right players forward to meet Australia".

Three players, including Child who was named player of the tournament, have come from the Junior Black Sticks who finished fourth at the recent Junior World Cup. Child is joined by Nick Wilson and Arun Panchia from that team.

New Zealand go into the Malaysian series ranked eighth in the world - eight places higher than their opponents. Malaysia finished fourth in the recent Champions Challenge 11 tournament for teams ranked between 13th and 18th in the world.

THE SCHEDULE

August 9: First test, Palmerston North 2.30pm.

August 11: Second test, Palmerston North 6.30pm.

August 13: Third test, Napier 6.30pm.

August 14: Fourth test, Napier 6.30pm.

August 16: Fifth test, Taupo 1.30pm.