Indians Favoured To Win Hockey-Test

Press, Volume C, Issue 29560, 8 July 1961, Page 5

Indians Favoured To Win Hockey-Test

’THE Indian Wanderers win x enter the third hockey test against New Zealand at Lancaster Park today with the satisfactory record of tiwo comfortable victories in the previous tests. For New Zealand it will be an occasion demanding some striving. Both Canterbury and Wellington have held the Wanderers to a draw, but the national team will need to effect a radical improvement if it is to achieve a similar or better result. So far the defence has been fairly adequate, but two erf the halves have been obliged to concentrate so much upon this aspect of the play that the forwards have lacked support. At the same time they have not been convincing. Right Wing The introduction of B. -Judge to the right-wing should give New Zealand added thrust on this flank, and G. D. MacGregor will strengthen the centre-forward position, but this will be at the expense of his ability at inside-left unless P. Bygrave, who has been shifted there from the left-wing, can produce the stick-work and passing ability necessary to this area. With nothing to lose, it would be an interesting experiment for the

New Zealand halves to play closer to their forwards and to eradicate the mid-field vacuum which permits Indian clearances to reach inside forwards whose dribbling has found a way through the defence, notwithstanding its concentration. This applies particularly to the centre-half position. Half-backs have a dual role to perform. They must support their forwards on attack and cover the backs on defence, in addition to marking their opposite numbers in the opposing forward line. New Zealand’s best half has been B. Turner on the right, but he must correct his neg-

lect to mark Darshan Singh, the Indian left-wing, who took full advantage of this lapse in the first half of the second test. The Indians are not likely to depart from their policy, which has been pursued throughout the tour. Their main avenues of attack are down the left flank and by means of dribbling in the three inside forward positions. Darshan Singh has proved himself a competent leftwing whenever he has moved towards the circle instead of the corner flag, and the inside forwards, Udham Singh B. Patil and Gurdev Singh, are the best players in the team. Their dribbling is quick and well controlled, but they tend to take the bal too far, with the result that there is little opportunity for a penetrative pass when the situation forces a pass upon them. This amount of dribbling also permits opponents more time in which to retreat to stack the defence. The pattern of the game from the Indian point of view should be clear enough. Whether this will be successful for a third time may depend to a great extent upon the form of the New Zealand forwards and the amount of assistance which their halves can give them. The superior skill of the Indians in stick-work forces much defensive play upon New Zealand, but the cautious attitude towards strategy of our players also contributes in some measure to this. There is one final point of some importance. The Indian backs, Prithipal Singh and Jhaman Lal Sharma, are very competent tacklers who cover each other excellently. Whenever they seek to create attacks by constructive passes to their halves or forwards, they are examples of sound hockey. Whenever they lapse into fly-hitting or aimless slogging they are merely demonstrating elementary bdsic faults. If they should descend to this level today at any time, it is to be hoped that their influence in this regard on younger players who will be watching will be negative. The odds are with the Indians. If New Zealand is to win there must be a substantial improvement upon the form of the previous tests and a possible reaction of , panic in the Indian defence. And a bumpy playing surface might upset the calculations of everyone.