PETALING JAYA: Malaysia were outplayed in their 1-4 loss to a full-strength New Zealand on Monday but the Speedy Tigers were able to adapt to the fast but bumpy pitch at the Hockey Stadium in Gniezno, Poland, ahead of the Nations Cup starting on Friday.
The Black Sticks’ main players Simon Child, who has 300 international caps, Nic Woods (167), Kane Russell (204), Hugo Inglis (254), Aidan Sarikaya (86), Leon Hayword (45) and Sean Findlay (41) had all returned to the squad after being rested for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh three weeks ago.