Five New Faces in the Black Sticks Squad to Face India — and a Goalkeeper Back After Six Years

New Zealand aren’t treating November’s India series as a friendly run-out. They’ve picked a squad that says the opposite.

The Black Sticks Men have named 20 players for the three-test Centenary Series at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Auckland on 19, 21 and 22 November, the series marking 100 years since India’s first hockey tour to New Zealand in 1926. Five of them have never been in an international environment before. And the goalkeeping pick is the one that jumps off the page.

Joyce back after six years away

Richard Joyce is in the group again. The goalkeeper stepped away from the international game in 2020, so this is a proper return, not a recall after a short rest. Six years out and straight back in for a series against India takes some doing, and it tells you New Zealand want experience around a young group rather than just handing the shirt to the next name in line.

Five first-timers tells its own story

Dean Clarkson from Taranaki, Christchurch pair Javahn Jones and Sam Lints, Tim Greenwood from Waikato and North Harbour’s Zander Fraser are all set for their first taste of an international environment.

That’s a quarter of the squad learning on the job. Bold? A bit. But this is the right series to do it in. It’s a celebration series with real opponents, played at home, falling right in the middle of New Zealand’s Premier Hockey League season, and the whole point of that league is feeding players into a Black Sticks shirt. Picking five newcomers is the pathway actually working, not just being talked about. (We covered the Premier Hockey League launch when the series was announced.)

The spine is still there for them to learn from. Nic Woods, Sam Hiha, Scott Cosslett and Dylan Thomas are among the established names in the 20, so the new boys aren’t being thrown in without cover.

The full squad

Aidan Sarikaya, Benji Culhane, Dean Clarkson, Dylan Thomas, Gus Nelson, Javahn Jones, Joe Morrison, Jonty Elmes, Luke Holmes, Matt Ruetsch, Nic Woods, Patrick Ward, Richard Joyce, Ryan Parr, Sam Hiha, Sam Lints, Scott Cosslett, Tim Greenwood, Tim Neild and Zander Fraser.

Why India will take this seriously too

Don’t expect a touring-party India. They come into this off the World Cup and having already booked their place at the LA 2028 Olympics, and both federations agreed the series would celebrate the history between the two countries rather than experiment for the sake of it. Armed Forces teams from both countries play curtain-raisers, a nod to the fact that the 1926 tour was an Indian Army team.

Three matches in four days, 19, 21 and 22 November, all at Lloyd Elsmore Park. For our money, game one is the one to watch. Five new faces, a returning goalkeeper, and India in front of them. We’ll learn more about where this Black Sticks group actually is in 60 minutes than in a month of training camps. India’s own depth is no joke either — see our India country profile.