INJURY WORRIES FADE AS ENGLAND SQUAD IS SELECTED

Announcement of the men's squad for the World Cup in Germany was delayed until today due to injury worries, particularly to Cannock's Barry Middleton who suffered an injury in training a week ago. There are no surprises in the squad, which is largely unchanged from the World Cup qualifiers earlier this year. The squad is: Brothers (GK), Richard Mantell, Simon Mantell, and Clarke (Reading), Kirkham (East Grinstead), Alexander, Daly, Garrard, Moore, Tindall, and Marsden (Surbiton), Goudie, Bleby (Loughborough Stds), Jones, Cordon, Middleton, Fair (GK) (Cannock), and Hawes (Amsterdam).

The first England match, which is against India, is at 14:00 (CET) and is scheduled to be broadcast live by Eurosport. Check Europsport schedules to see whether the broadcast will be available in the UK.

TalkHockeyRadio will be at the World Cup for the crossover and classification matches, and the finals and place games.

SQUAD FOR MADRID NAMED

Whilst injury and fitness concerns delay the announcement of the squad for the men's World Cup in Madrid next month, the women's coach Danny Kerry has announced his squad for Madrid. The squad contains no real suprises, with Chelmsford's Katy Roberts being preferred to Becky Duggan for one of the two goalkeeping spots, and newcomers Jo Ellis and Kerry Williams finding a place in the squad.

The full squad: Roberts, Wooding, Rogers (Chelmsford), Storry (SCHC), Crista Cullen, Richardson, Bimson, Herbert, Williams (Leicester), Clewlow (Canterbury), Grant (Rotterdam), Wright, Walker (Olton), Walsh (c), Danson (Slough), Ellis (Doncaster), Walton (Bowdon Hightown), and Ellis (Ipswich).

DUTCH ON-FORM AS WORLD CUP APPROACHES

The Netherlands proved that they are the on-form team for next month's World Cup in a four-nations tournament in Hamburg this weekend. Playing the host nation in the final match this afternoon, the Dutch beat the Germans 2-1 to make it a clean sweep of victories over the competition. Only the Spanish, who were soundly beaten by the Dutch on day one, will take any comfort from this weekend. After the first day's set-back they overcame the Germans 5-2, and then the team from Pakistan, 6-2. Most concern will be in the German camp, having conceded nine goals over the weekend for a reply of four. Final rankings: Netherlands; 9 pts (+7), Spain; 6 pts (+3), Pakistan; 3 points (-5), Germany 0 points (-5).

SCARE OVER MIDDLETON FITNESS FOR WORLD CUP by Pat Rowley

Barry Middleton (Cannock), England's outstanding attacking player, could miss the World Cup which is due to start at Monchengladbach in 10 days time. Middleton, UK Player of the Year in 2004, twisted an ankle during training last week. The injury is not as bad as first thought but in the normal course of events would take 2/3 weeks to heal. With the Surbiton duo, James Tindall and Matt Daly, also having to prove their fitness, coach Jason Lee has decided to delay the selection of the England team which was expected last week, until as late as possible.

England's women's team for their World Cup at Madrid in late September, will be announced tomorrow and the big interest is to see whether squad newcomers Kerry Williams (Leicester) and Jo Ellis of Doncaster force their way into the side. Both scored when England beat Germany, the Olympic gold medallists, 2-1 at Cannock a week ago.

GERMANS LOOK SET FOR WOODEN SPOON

In the run-up to the BDO Men's Hockey World Cup, four of the world's top nations are competing in a tournament in Hamburg this weekend. At the end of the second day of play the Netherlands are in the lead on maximum points. The Dutch met Pakistan ealier today, with another high scoring result but one which was more flattering to Pakistan than when they met in the Champions Trophy. The Dutch, who had beaten Spain 3-1 on Friday, came out 6-4 winners. Surprisingly it is the host nation who have not had the run of the ball and are currently propping up the table on zero points. They suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Pakistan yesterday, and went down 5-2 to Spain this afternoon. The concluding matches are between Pakistand and Spain and the Netherlands and Germany tomorrow (Sunday)

CLEWLOW AND DELMEE RECEIVE WRITERS' AWARDS

Further to our brief report on the internationals at Cannock yesterday, England women's Mel Clewlow and Dutch men's star Jeroem Delmee were presented with awards by representatives of the hockey press. Mel Clewlow, whose penalty corner striking has been a major factor in recent sucesses for England and her club, was awarded the Marjorie Pollard salver. Traditionally this was given to the top player at the Wembley International but with the demise of this annual event this award now goes to the top woman player at an international match selected by the Hockey Writers' Club. A similar award, in memory of the Daily Telegraph's Chris Moore, was awarded to Jeroem Delmee of the Netherlands.

MANTELL STRIKES AGAIN

England's star penalty corner striker, Richard Mantell, forced a draw against the Netherlands at Cannock this afternoon. After going down 2-0 to the Champions' Trophy winners, Mantell converted two corners to give England a 2-2 draw. Also at Cannock, England new girls Karry Williams and Jo Ellis scored in their side's 2-1 victory over the Germans.

A full report on these matches will appear in HockeyTalk magazine, available to download from www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk next Thursday. Also in the magazine will be a review of the forthcoming Men's World Cup in Germany.

SURE FIRE CLEWLOW GIVES ENGLAND HOPE

Englands penalty corner strikers were on form in the two internationals played this evening. In the women's international at Cannock, England took a late second-half lead against Germany with a penalty corner strike by Mel Clewlow. England held onto the lead for seven minutes until Germany replied with a field goal from former FIH Player of the Year, Natascha Keller. Final score 1-1.

In the men's match at Belle Vue, Rob Reckers opened the scoring for the Netherlands but Richard Mantell replied from a penalty corner minutes later. The two sides went into the interval at 1-1, but after the break Weusthof and Klaver gave the visitors a commanding lead. With four minutes left on the clock, Ben Hawes pulled one back for England from the penalty spot. Final score 3-2 to the Netherlands.

Although one cannot put too much store by these warm-up games, it does demonstrate that both England teams are not overawed by top European opposition.

Our pictures show penalty corner strikers Mel Clewlow and Richard Mantell.

ENGLAND ANNOUNCE LINE UP TO FACE GERMANY

England's women play Germany at Cannock on Thursday and Saturday and the squad for those matches has been announced. The squad is a mixture of old hands and comparative newcomers, with Canterbury's Mel Clewlow leading the count of caps with 207 and Doncaster's Joe Ellis and Leicester's Kerry Williams on 3 and 2 respectively. England's recent form against the Germans has not been good, but penalty corner strikers Clewlow and Crista Cullen were on good form against Japan last Friday and England may snatch a goal or two from corners. But the Germans are far stiffer opposition, with world class players of the quality Keller and Rinne available to them and England will have to tighten up on their passing if they are not to be punished.

ENGLAND TO MEET WORLD'S ON-FORM SIDE

England's men meet the recent winners of the Champions Trophy at Belle Vue, Manchester on Thursday (17/8). The fixture will be repeated at Cannock HC on Saturday. The England squad, which was announced yesterday, threw up no particular surprises. With the exception of goalkeeper James Fair of Cannock, every player in the side has at least a dozen caps.

England have played the Dutch a total of sixty-nine times and have only recorded eleven victories. However, the side's recent form has been much better and in the last three meetinga the English side has gone undefeated. The Dutch looked in awesome form in the recent Champions Trophy, but may use these two matches to experiment, and so an English victory is not out of the quesion.

ENGLAND WOBBLE BUT CLEWLOW AND CULLEN STEADY THE BOAT by Peter Savage in East Grinstead

In an unconvincing effort against the women from Japan, it was the penalty corner striking of Mel Clewlow and Crista Cullen that carried the day for England at East Grinstead this evening. Under over overcast evening sky England had most of the play in the early stages of the match and it was very much against the overall run of play that Sachimi Iwao scored in the eleventh minute. It was a rather robust defence, marshalled by their captain Akemi Cato, that was to be the undoing of the Japanese, as they gave away a number of penalty corners. England is lucky to have two world class corner strikers in its ranks in Mel Clewlow and Crista Cullen, and it was Clewlow who put England back on terms in the nineteenth minute. England fell behind for a second time when Keiko Muira converted a penalty corner just before half time. Ironically, it seemed to be the Japanese that were pressing England back into their own half for the rest of the match, and yet they failed to find the net again, thanks to some full stretch saves by Beth Storry in the England Goal. The Japanese continued to give away silly penalty corners for rough tackling and Cullen put England back on level terms with a corner conversion shortly after the restart. Rebecca Herbert then scored a third England goal from open play seventeen minutes later. With four minutes left on the clock, Cullen found herself unmarked and running into the top of the 'D' only to be badly obstructed by a defender who threw herelf in front of Cullen. Clewlow scored from the subsequent penalty corner, giving England the victory with a final score of 4-2. The score flatters England somewhat, for although there is little doubt that they deserved to win this game, some inaccurate passing was responsible for Japan having more possession than they deserved.

Our photographs show goalmouth action after a first-half England penalty corner and the skipper and two scorers. Left to right, Kate Walsh (Cpt), Crista Cullen, and Mel Clewlow.

Japan v England Women's Match at East Grinstead

Due to a lack of hockey being played in the last few days we have been very quiet of late, but we will be at East Grinstead for the international this evening. Hopefully we will be able to post a report with photographs before the end of the evening.