New-look men’s squad for Test feast

THE national selection panel headed by Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games striker Ally Fredericks have named a newlook South African men’s hockey team for three Test matches at Hartleyvale in Cape Town from January 20-26.

The three matches form part of the annual Cape Town Summer Series; this year there are a bumper 20 matches that include 16 Test matches.

The SA men’s and women’s teams are taking part and the other countries are national men’s teams from the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland plus the flagship women’s teams from Belgium and Chile.

The series runs from January 20 to February 2 with three of the 20 matches – involving the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland men – not at Hartleyvale but at Stellenbosch.

The SA men’s team’s three Hartleyvale Test matches are against the Netherlands on Tuesday (5pm), Ireland on Sunday, January 25 (4pm) and Ireland on Monday, January 26 (7pm).

National men’s head coach Fabian Gregory will be combining the three matches with a week-long training camp.

The SA squad meet in Cape Town on Monday.

Gregory said yesterday the squad is made up of those players who impressed in the exciting 2-1 series loss to Austria in Durban just over a week ago, plus the recall of some of the more seasoned players.

Several experienced SA players such as national captain Austin Smith are again unavailable for this series as they are representing their franchise teams in the Hockey India League during this period, while others are unavailable due to factors such as overseas club commitments.

“This is the second phase of our preparation for the World League Round 2 event at Hartleyvale in early March and I expect the Netherlands and Ireland to provide a considerably higher level of competition to that which we experienced in Durban,” said Gregory.

Gates open one hour before the first match. Ticket prices are R30 per person.