New Zealand do a ‘Dipak Patel’ for a bit of cricket at Hockey World Cup | Hockey News

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In what proved to be a suicidal innovation, the Black Sticks removed their goalkeeper in the first quarter of the pool match against the Netherlands on Monday hoping to surprise the Dutch team, who won 4-0 in the end.
ROURKELA: After England adopted their cricket team’s ‘Bazball’ approach to play entertaining and attacking hockey at the Men’s World Cup in Odisha, New Zealand introduced an innovation on Monday that reminded of the Kiwi cricket team of 1992.
The Pool C match at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium saw the Black Sticks withdrawing their goalkeeper Dominic Dixon in the first quarter for an extra player up front, despite conceding a goal against the Netherlands in the third minute.
The seemingly suicidal move proved disastrous as the Dutch team doubled its lead and could have added another had they not missed the penalty corner in front of the New Zealand goalpost without a goalkeeper.
The move reminded what the late New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe tried at the 1992 World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
To surprise the opponents, Crowe decided to open bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel, something that was not seen in the sport ever before then.
While the NZ cricket team’s innovation was relatively successful, their hockey team’s attempt at the out-of-the-box tactics backfired.
They lost 4-0 in the end, with Dutch skipper Thierry Brinkman scoring two goals and Koen Bijen & Tjep Hoedemakers scoring one each.
“We didn’t expect the tactical move so early. Normally you see those things in the fourth quarter, when you are just one goal ahead,” said Brinkman. “I think our reaction was good. We scored a goal and almost a third one immediately after they changed the goalkeeper.
“After that situation, they changed it back (brought goalkeeper Dixon back in the second quarter),” he added.
New Zealand captain Nic Woods said withdrawing goalkeeper early was an attempt to “upset” Netherlands.
“It was an opportunity for us to try something different,” said Woods. “We know that Holland play a beautiful game, so it was something to try and upset them.
“It didn’t come off unfortunately, but we are trying to bring some innovation to the game and that’s just one piece of it.”
The second consecutive win has virtually assured the Dutch team a place in the quarterfinals. They lead Pool C with six points and have a game against World Cup debutants Chile left to play. The four teams topping their respective pools get a direct entry into the quarterfinals.
New Zealand and Malaysia are on three points each. Both have beaten Chile but lost their respective matches against the Netherlands.



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