Men’s squad announced for the Investec London Cup
4th July 2014
There’s less than a week to go before England’s men are back in London at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the Investec London Cup. Head Coach Bobby Crutchley’s side will face Scotland, Ireland and South Africa in a round-robin tournament before the classification matches take place on Sunday 13 July.
The squad includes all 16 athletes who will be competing in Glasgow at the end of the month in the Commonwealth Games, but with the addition of two extra names to build the squad up to 18. Reading’s James Bailey and Beeston’s Ollie Willars are named alongside their peers. Beeston’s Tim Whiteman is included in the squad as he continues to recover well following surgery on his broken thumb.
Speaking ahead of the Investec London Cup England Captain Barry Middleton said, “It’s great to be playing in the Investec London Cup on home turf and to be back on the Olympic Park at our new legacy venue. We had such good support back here during the recent World Cup in the Netherlands and this tournament will help maintain the interest levels we’ve seen in hockey so far this summer. The opportunity to play four competitive matches in front of a home crowd just one week before the Commonwealth Games will definitely help to sharpen the team up before we head off to Glasgow.”
Investec London Cup opponents
England begin their Investec London Cup campaign against opponents Scotland, who are a team they have rarely faced at international tournaments in recent years. However, the sides have faced each other 78 times in total and Crutchley’s side has a healthy lead in the victory standings with 58 to their name.
The last time Scotland beat England was back in 2005 at the European Championships; England Assistant Coach David Ralph was the man on target for Scotland to give his side a 4-2 victory.
The team’s most recent encounters were in Glasgow at a Four Nations tournament during April where England ran out 3-1 and 5-1 victories; Investec London Cup squad members David Condon [2], Simon Mantell, Barry Middleton, Ashley Jackson and Alastair Brogdon all added to their goal tallies.
England haven’t played South Africa since June 2013 when they drew 3-3 at the World Hockey League Semi Finals in Malaysia. The teams have met 38 times and see England with the majority of victories including five out of the last six times they have met. Despite their ranking of 15th in the world the Southern Hemisphere side just finished 11th at the World Cup and will no doubt prove to be strong opponents in London.
England has played Ireland 100 times and come out on top with 67 victories to Ireland’s 12. Their most recent meeting was at the NOW: Pensions Nations Cup earlier this year at Reading Hockey Club; the home side took a 3-0 victory on that occasion, with Ashley Jackson [2] and Harry Martin on the score sheet that day.
Despite being ranked 10 places below them in the world, Crutchley knows better than to underestimate this side. At the 2013 EuroHockey Championships Ireland pushed England all the way in their pool match which ended 2-2.