The women's Black Sticks hope more time together is the recipe for success in the hockey World Cup starting overnight

New Zealand has played a warm-up tournament in Germany and is now in England for the main event, which takes a fortnight.

Striker Olivia Merry says they're normally used to only being together for short periods.

She says prior to coming away to the world cup they were centralized in New Zealand which has helped a lot with building their team culture.

The Black Sticks open their World Cup account against Belgium in London tomorrow morning.