In the November edition of TalkHockeyRadio I suggested to the manager of Great Britain, Peter Nicholson, that my presence at England matches had often resulted in improved results. It was a light hearted comment and, of course, this is Great Britain playing and not England. Despite that, it was a prediction that came true here in Kulua Lumpur this afternoon for my first day at the Samsung Champions Trophy. But first let me set the scene. Starting a match at 16:05 here is like walking into a Turkish bath. Hot and humid. The weather had been noticeably cooler this afternoon, by which I mean the equivalent of warmest July in England plus ten degrees. It had not been the searing heat of previous days but at 16:00 the clouds rolled back and the simple act of standing on one spot became an effort, never mind playing 70 minutes of hockey. However, the Great Britain team seemed to have done a better job of acclimatising than anyone could have expected. Playing Pakistan - a team who they could beat of paper but were probably better able to adapt to these conditions - it took GB 10 minutes to settle down. When they did they looked far the more dangerous of the two sides. Stephen Dick, proving once again that the Scots are not just in the team to make up the numbers, scored the opener after 15 minutes, and six minutes later Rob Moore made it two. One criticism I have made of England teams in the past is a lack of effectiveness in the circle but you could not say this about this GB performance. Every loose ball was readily snatched up. A Simon Mantell goal made it three and that is how the match went into the break. The Pakistan coach had clearly been studying British tactics during the first half and when they came back onto the pitch it only took just under ten minutes for continued pressure to bring results, with Imran Muhammad finding the net from a penalty corner. But this was to be GB’s lucky day. The rain, which had started just after the start of the second half, turned to monsoon proportions, and the umpires suspended the match whilst we watched the pitch slowly disappear under water. The break was enough for coach Jason Lee to reorganise his troops and they came out after the break fighting. Richard Alexander, who seemed to be running after everything, finally got his reward with a goal in the 57th minute. A slightly bizarre post script to this match was the discovery that there were eleven Pakistan players on the pitch whilst Imran Kahn was sitting out a period of suspension. The unfortunate victim of this was the Pakistan captain, Salman Akbar, who found himself blameless but sitting next to Kahn in the sin bin. The final score 4-1 to Great Britain. And coach Jason Lee’s comment after the match? “We have played much better than that.” They may get a chance to show that when they play Spain tomorrow. Spain have been off form in this tournament, and this might just be GB’s chance to put a further three points into their pot.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THIS MATCH WILL APPEAR ON THIS BLOG IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES.
