International Day in New Zealand
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
Several thousand people are expected to attend the Rosetown Holden International Day to be held this Saturday 7th February 2015 at the Kihikihi Polo Club in New Zealand, to watch two English International teams meet their New Zealand counterparts on the Nga Rakau ground (owned by Paul Kay who is the fifth generation of the Kay family to play polo at the Club). The International Day forms a key date in the Kihikihi Polo Club’s fixtures list, with the inaugural game having been played in 1994 against an English side, with the NZPA coordinating team New Zealand from 2003.
Playing in the first match of the day at 1pm (New Zealand time), the England Ladies team of Fiona Alexander (0), Harriet McKelvie (0), Lottie Lamacraft (0) and Lucy Taylor (1) will face the New Zealand Ladies: Missy Browne (1), Renn Erceg (0), Susie Hamilton (0) and Maddy Rankin (0).
Following this at 3pm, in this first International Test Match of 2015 for team England, James Beim (7) will be representing England in his Audi team shirt for the first time on the pitch as team Captain since his predecessor Luke Tomlinson stepped down at the end of July 2014. Playing alongside him will be Tom Morley (6), James Harper (6) and Max Charlton (7). Meeting the English side on a home pitch will be a New Zealand team headed up by John Paul Clarkin (8), with fellow team mates, Simon Keyte (6) and brothers, Craig Wilson (6) and Tommy Wilson (7).