Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch has announced a 20-player team who will head to Bhubaneshwar, India for the upcoming FIH Pro League matches on 21/22 February 2020.
Josh Beltz, Daniel Beale and Jacob Anderson are the three inclusions to the team from the Kookaburras’ last outing – a 5-1 win over Great Britain on 2 February.
Attacking midfielder Kurt Lovett, who made his debut in the rout of Great Britain, has also retained his spot as the Kookaburras prepare to play an Indian team sitting second on the Pro League standings and high on confidence.
“We had four games in virtually a week in Sydney…we made some good progress in those four games and we’ve got to maintain that on this tour,” said Batch.
“Josh Beltz comes in for his first games of the year. We have also brought Daniel Beale and Jacob Anderson back in, and Kurt Lovett has played just the one game, so this is a good chance to have another look at him.”
With Batch willing to give players an opportunity to stake their claim, competitiveness at training and the competition for spots in the team is something the Kookaburras have in abundance.
“Since we returned to Perth, we have had some good training sessions and squad matches which we have been able to assess the players on so all of that adds up when considering selection,” said Batch.
“We need to assess players at international matches but it’s also in the DTE (Daily Training Environment) and I have mentioned before how important that is.”
India suffered a win and a loss in their two home matches against World Champions Belgium last weekend, which followed two home wins over the Netherlands to open their first Pro League campaign after the eight time Olympic gold medallists entered the competition for the first time this year.
Batch knows the matches propose a tough test but says his charges will embrace the challenge.
“It’s going to be a tricky tour. India have played very well at home so far and had some good results over the Netherlands and Belgium, so they will be a tough couple of matches and it will be interesting to see how we cope with this emerging Indian team who are also in our Pool in Tokyo,” said Batch.
“This will be about assessing our guys in what will be pretty challenging conditions against a strong opposition who will be playing at home.”
“They have a very noisy crowd that rallies behind them as well so that’s another element we have to deal with. We have played in front of it in the past, so we don’t see it as a negative and it will be a similar environment to what I expect Tokyo to be like.”
The matches can be seen LIVE on Kayo.
Kookaburras Team v India – FIH Pro League (21/22 February 2020)
| Name (Number) | Date of Birth | Hometown, State | Caps (Goals) |
| Jacob Anderson (9) | 22/03/1997 | Mackay, QLD | 21 (8) |
| Daniel Beale (23) | 12/02/1993 | Brisbane, QLD | 173 (28) |
| Josh Beltz (10) | 24/04/1995 | Hobart, TAS | 39 (3) |
| Tim Brand (29) | 29/11/1998 | Chatswood, NSW | 38 (16) |
| Andrew Charter (gk) (30) | 30/03/1987 | Canberra, ACT | 179 (0) |
| Tom Craig (2) | 3/09/1995 | Lane Cove, NSW | 101 (29) |
| Matthew Dawson (6) | 7/04/1994 | Killarney Vale, NSW | 136 (12) |
| Jake Harvie (4) | 5/03/1998 | Dardanup, WA | 66 (3) |
| Jeremy Hayward (32) | 3/03/1993 | Darwin, NT | 153 (64) |
| Tim Howard (16) | 23/06/1996 | Wakerley, QLD | 58 (1) |
| Tyler Lovell (gk) (24) | 23/05/1987 | Perth, WA | 143 (0) |
| Kurt Lovett (18) | 15/01/1997 | Parkes, NSW | 1 (0) |
| Trent Mitton (25) | 26/11/1990 | Perth, WA | 170 (77) |
| Eddie Ockenden (11) | 3/04/1987 | Hobart, TAS | 362 (71) |
| Lachlan Sharp (1) | 2/07/1997 | Lithgow, NSW | 46 (10) |
| Corey Weyer (3) | 28/03/1996 | Biggera Waters, QLD | 40 (3) |
| Jacob Whetton (12) | 16/06/1991 | Brisbane, QLD | 201 (64) |
| Tom Wickham (5) | 26/05/1990 | Morgan, SA | 51 (21) |
| Dylan Wotherspoon (26) | 9/04/1993 | Murwillumbah, NSW | 89 (31) |
| Aran Zalewski (17) | 21/03/1991 | Margaret River, WA | 187 (24) |
Kookaburras v India – FIH Pro League 2020 Match Details
Match 1 – Friday 21 February 2020
Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
Start Time: 7:00pm local (12:30am AEDT Saturday 22 February)
Match 2 – Saturday 22 February 2020
Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
Start Time: 7:00pm local (12:30am AEDT Sunday 23 February)
Kookaburras v India – Overall Record
Played 128; Won 84, Drawn 21, Lost 23
Kookaburras – FIH Pro League 2020 Results
Saturday 25 January
Kookaburras 2 (Hayward 49’, Craig 51’)
Belgium 2 (Briels 18’, Denayer 59’)
Belgium wins 4-2 on penalties
Sunday 26 January
Kookaburras 2 (Sharp 42’, Hayward 60’)
Belgium 4 (Hendrickx 13’/25’, Plennevaux 56’, Stockbroekx 58’)
Saturday 1 February
Kookaburras 4 (Ockenden 19’, Wickham 29’, Zalewski 56’, Mitton 59’)
Great Britain 4 (Jackson 20’, Wallace 31’, Shipperley 44’, Ansell 45’)
Kookaburras win 3-1 on penalties
Sunday 2 February
Kookaburras 5 (Wotherspoon 14’, Sharp 19’, Craig 29’, Brand 45’, Mitton 55’)
Great Britain 1 (Taylor 18’)
Click here for a full list of the Kookaburras FIH Pro League 2020 fixtures.