SYDNEY: Australia’s Kookaburras will host India in a four-match field hockey series in November and the organisers said on Wednesday they hoped it would become an annual fixture.

The November contests between the finalists from this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow precedes the Champions Trophy tournament in Bhubaneswar in December.

“We’ve been keen to bring India back to Australia for some time,” said Hockey Australia chief executive Cam Vale. “As we saw in Glasgow, matches between the Kookaburras and India are always hotly contested and with the Champions Trophy around the corner these Tests will be no different.”

Australia won Common­wealth Games gold over India 4-0 in August.

The India series will be held on Nov 4, 5, 8 and 9 at the Perth Hockey Stadium.

Vale said he had had good discussions with Hockey India about making the Perth contest a regular series and “building an event around it that hockey fans can really enjoy”.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014