LADIES’ HOCKEY.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 July 1938, Page 8

LADIES’ HOCKEY.

ENGLAND NARROWLY BEAT . EASTERN SOUTHLAND (By Telegraph —Press Association. GORE, Last Niglit. Played before a gallery of several thousand people, the England versus Eastern Southland ladies’ hockey match at Gore on Saturday provided the iinest exhibition of the game yet witnessed here. The game was marked by brilliant play by both teams, with England a shade better in attack and defence throughout. The pace set was exceptionally fast and there were incidents aplenty to excite the huge crowd. During the first spell fortunes fluctu ated for twenty minutes until the English combination told and O’Donoghue opened the scoring. In the first few minutes of the second half the English forwards completed a brilliant effort instigated by Dowling, who in-passed to West, who netted.

Soon after Eastern opened their account as the result of a scramble in front of the English goal, Sherri.fi! netting. The final stages of play were very even.

INDIAN TEAM DEFEATS CANTERBURY.

FOUR-NIL MARGIN IN GOOD

GAME

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night

In the presence of nearly 1000 spectators Prince Manavadar’s hockey team beat Canterbury by four goals to nil in a game in which the interest of the crowd was held from start to finish. The Indians displayed excellent ball control. Their positional play and passing were first-class and they attacked with equal ease on either wing, although the left was used most. The ground was very heavy and in the conditions, which would ordinarily have militated against clever stick play, the game was a first-class exhibition of hockey. The conditions were probably the worst the Indians have encountered on the tour and their performance was a remarkable demonstration of their adaptability. Several times during the game what promised to be excellent movements were stopped through players losing control of the ball in the thick mud, which became very evident after the first five minutes. This was probably the reason why both sides used the push shot. A most unexpected feature of the game was the way in which Canterbury adopted the tactics of the visiting team. The Indians used the flick shot to advantage, and soon after the start Canterbury did the same. The Indian forwards gave displays equal to those of previous tours and they had perfect understanding of one another’s play. The halves also were fast, giving the Canterbury forwards few chances to make openings. Their understanding was first-class and they did not hesitate to pass back when hard-pressed. The backs both gave fine displays and they combined excellently. The goalkeeper, although not over-worked, showed he would be hard to beat. Abdul Latif and Sultan Khan were the pick of the Indian forwards, displaying wonderful ball control. Shahabuddin and Fernandez on the wings had great speed and they centred accurately, only fine defence by Canterbury saving several goals. SLahnoor Kahn and Lajpat Eai gave brilliant exhibitions as halves and their breaking up of attacks by the Canterbury forwards was outstanding, and they combined excellently with their backs at all times. Both Gunnarain Singh and Hussain were a very solid pair of backs and they gave the Canterbury forwards few chances.

In the first half the forwards were crowding one another, but in the later stages the Indians were hafd-pressed on right wing made several good openings and Rusbridge and Norman were also prominent, but they had not the necessary penetration to break through the Indian defence. The halves, Loader and W. Bowden, gave excellent displays, intercepting brilliantly and defending very solidly. The backs both played well and it was only the clever stick-work of the Indian forwards that beat them. Barnhill in goal acquitted* himself veiy well under the heavy fire. The half-time score was three-nil only one goal being added in the second spell, when Canterbury had more of the game. Goals for India were scored by Shahabuddin and Abdul Latif (two each.