The Malaysian Tigress concluded their tour of New Zealand on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat against the Black Sticks Women side in the fifth and final game at the TET MultiSports Centre in Stratford.
New Zealand dominated the first half with Samantha Harrison scoring a double in her 100th international.
The Kiwis continued to create chances in the second half but weren’t able to trouble the scorers again with Malaysia lighting up the board 10 minutes from fulltime through Nuraini Rashid’s penalty corner strike. Sean Dancer said he was pleased by the performance of the Black Sticks women, ranked World No 5, against the World No 21 Malaysians as they closed the series positively.
“We are happy to finish with a win, but needed to score a few more goals from the amount of opportunities we created. Malaysia defended well in the second half and we needed to execute better in a congested attacking third,” said Dancer, the Black Sticks assistant coach.
“Overall this series has been a great learning experience and development opportunity for our group. Stratford has been a great host and we would like to thank everyone for their support.”
The Malaysians concluded the five test series with one win and four defeats. The New Zealand tour has been an important aspect in the Tigress preparation for the Women’s World League Round 2 in Kuala Lumpur from Jan 14-22 at the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium.
The Malaysians will battle for a slot in the World League Semi-finals and a shot at the World Cup in the World League Round 2 involving Ireland, Italy, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Wales.
World No 15 Italy is drawn in Group A with Thailand, Singapore and Wales whilst the Malaysia Tigress is in Group B with Ireland (world No 16), Hong Kong and Kazakhstan.
The top two teams in Kuala Lumpur will qualify for the Semi-finals of the World League.
