Hockey: Young, gifted, in black

Mark Hager. Photo / Dean Purcell

A young but experienced New Zealand women's team have been selected for the Champions Trophy tournament in the Netherlands in June.

Coach Mark Hager yesterday named an 18-strong squad boasting an average age of 23 and average test caps of 59 for the eight-nation event starting in Amsterdam on June 3.

Hager's selections followed the team playing 13 tests at home this year already against Korea, Japan and Argentina.

"We have had some strong test series over the last few months, but the level of competition at Champions Trophy will be world class and if we want to place in the top six, we need to be playing at our very best," he said.

Sophie Devine, Cathryn Finlayson, Alana Millington, Sally Rutherford and Anna Thorpe - who have not played at a Champions Trophy before - will join the team alongside highly-capped players Emily Naylor, Kayla Sharland, Krystal Forgesson and Clarissa Eshuis.

"The training and competition over the last few months has been pretty intense, and we need to keep training hard over the next couple of months to make sure we get the results we want," co-captain Kayla Sharland said.

New Zealand are in pool B alongside the Netherlands, Germany and Australia. Pool A includes Argentina, China, England and Korea.

"If we can pull off two wins in the pool round, then that could possibly place us in the top four teams in the tournament. It won't be easy, but at the same time we will have our strongest team on field and we have had some good results lately," Sharland said.

Hager has invited North Harbour's Petrea Webster and Northland's Laura Douglas to take part in practice games scheduled in Europe against Germany, China and Holland before the Champions Trophy.

Hager also announced a development team to play Japan in Gifu on May 24-29.

New Zealand women's team for Champions Trophy
Kayla Sharland (Central), Emily Naylor (Central), Krystal Forgesson (Auckland), Katie Glynn (Auckland), Sally Rutherford (Midlands), Alana Millington (Northland), Ella Gunson (Northland), Clarissa Eshuis (Midlands), Lucy Talbot (Auckland), Samantha Harrison (Auckland), Cathryn Finlayson (Midlands), Gemma Flynn (Midlands), Anna Thorpe (Northland), Sophie Devine (Canterbury), Charlotte Harrison (Northland), Bianca Russell (North Harbour), Stacey Michelsen (North Harbour), Anita Punt (Capital).

- NZPA