And that's because after the Black Caps lost the Cricket World Cup final and the All Whites a friendly against South Korea last week, things are looking up for New Zealand's bruised reputation in international sport. And that's because the Black Sticks have won - and I'm talking about both the men's and the women's field hockey (which sucks compared to the one on ice where they fight all the time) teams.
The men remain undefeated at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia after a tight 2-1 win over India last night. After a goalless first half, captain Simon Child put the Kiwis on the scoreboard in the 38th minute after getting a feather touch on a hard shot at goal from Shay Neal. India responded with an equaliser just minutes later when Akashdeep Singh pounced on a penalty corner deflection to slip the ball through goalkeeper Devon Manchester's outstretched leg. But five minutes from fulltime, Andy Hayward delivered the winning blow with a powerful penalty corner flick into the left hand corner. Meanwhile, the women battled to a 1-0 victory against Argentina in Gisborne today. In a good old fashioned arm-wrestle, New Zealand were only able to break the deadlock in the 47th minute, when Olivia Merry deflected a crash ball from Petrea Webster (who was playing her 100th game for the Black Sticks) into the goal. The two meet again tomorrow, and I hope Argentina get a second helping of defeat.
My advice to both the countries we were up against is to just stick to cricket and soccer respectively. And even then, we'll find a way to beat them at those too.
No comments:
Post a Comment