Ben Hawes has an extra special reason for wanting to do well in Melbourne.

Four years ago Hawes missed the final cut for England hockey's squad to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

The former Lewes player desperately wanted to be part of one of the biggest sporting festivals this country has staged in recent years but instead had to watch proceedings from his hotel room.

Now, four years on, life has changed dramatically for Hawes.

An established international, he has represented Great Britain at the Olympics and plays his club hockey for one of the best sides in Europe.

Unlike Manchester, his selection for the squad for Melbourne was never in any doubt.

But that pain of missing out before gives Hawes an added hunger to be successful this year.

As a standby player in Manchester he was so near, yet so far from the action.

Hawes, whose family live at Barcombe, explained: "Every hockey tournament is a squad of 18 apart from the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics, which are 16.

"Manchester was my first real involvement with the seniors and I was a reserve, 17th or 18th man.

That was a real disappointment.

"I had to sit in a hotel in Manchester in case I got called upon and watch it all go on.

"Since then I have wanted to go to the Commonwealth Games to alleviate that disappointment."

England are not the force in world hockey they once were but, with a young squad, they are on the up again.

They are currently ranked 11th in the world, which makes them the sixth highest ranked team in Melbourne, and a medal is a possibility despite being drawn in a tough group with Australia, the reigning Olympic and Commonwealth champions.

Preparations have gone well, including a series win in South Africa, and Hawes is upbeat about the tournament, despite going into it carrying a foot injury which may need an injection before the action begins.

He said: "We are still quite young and developing but things are going in the right direction.

"We have never won a series in South Africa before so it was nice to win it 3-0.

"We are not the most experienced of squads - I am one of the most experienced players at 25 - but a lot of us are of a similar age and have come up from junior hockey together.

"It will take a while to reach the top nations but if we can keep picking them off one by one like we did with South Africa then it is the right way to go about it."

England begin their campaign against New Zealand a week tomorrow and play Scotland the following day with subsequent games against Australia and Canada. The top two from each group qualify for the semi-finals.

Hawes said: "The Australians are a long way above any other nation. They recently beat Spain, who are the European champions, 4-1 and they seem to be moving further away from everyone else.

"In their own country they will be very tough. We will play them in the group and hopefully we won't have to rely on a result against them.

"New Zealand are a similar side to us. They are still quite young. The first two games are important and it is vital we get a good start."

Hawes plays his club hockey in Holland with Amsterdam, where he is virtually a fulltime player training four times a week.

Things could not have gone better since switching from Surbiton and Hawes believes his time abroad has improved his game.

He said: "My first year went really well. We made the Dutch play-offs before losing in the semi-final.

"We won the European Club Championship for the first time in Amsterdam's history, which made us the top team in Europe.

"That was a massive thing over there.

"I was player of the tournament and top scorer which is the best thing I have done in my career.

"We have some world class players and that has really helped my game."

Hawes will consider his club future later in the year but has another important tournament before then.

A week after Melbourne, the England squad flies out to China for the World Cup qualifiers needing to finish in the top five out of 12 competing nations.

Hawes said: "The Commonwealth Games will be a great experience, especially in Australia, but the qualifiers are more important in terms of funding for the sport and the Olympics, plus ranking points."