Suffolk’s Hannah Martin is delighted to have got her first taste of senior international hockey under her belt, and is keen to sample more.

The 22-year-old won her maiden England caps back in February as England went to South Africa and defeated the hosts twice, 3-0 and 4-2. The former Ipswich School pupil then played in two of three uncapped games against Germany and is now a fully-fledged member of Ady Kerry’s side – a side that features several of the players that won Olympic gold with Great Britain at last summer’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

“It’s amazing to be part of the legacy that the girls’ success in the Rio Olympics created,” said Martin, whose brother Harry, is an experienced international for the Great Britain and England men’s teams. I made my debut in South Africa which was incredible, it was quite emotional, and hopefully there is more to come.

“It was a great learning curve for me. It wasn’t too intense, but at the same time, it gave me a good idea about training and matchplay and playing in a hot country and what I need to do on tour.

“You’re always keen to get that first tour and game for your country under your belt and I feel more comfortable now I have done it.” She added: “Everyone is really welcoming in the squad and you can see why they won gold as there is so much work done around the team culture and everyone works together really well.”

Martin’s next England commitments will be in Spain in the next couple of weeks, before the World Hockey League World Cup qualifiers are played in Johannesburg in July, ahead of the Commonwealth Games next April.

England have all but qualified for the 2018 World Cup, being the host nation, but playing in South Africa again will still be a good opportunity for Martin, if selected.

“The team is in a development phase at the moment, we have a few games in Spain coming up and after that there will be the team selection for Johannesburg, which will be a big challenge,” she said. “We also have two home matches coming up at Lee Valley in the summer, against Holland and Argentina. The Holland game is just a one-off, just a re-match of the Olympic final, but the tickets sold out in a couple of hours, and it’s great to see hockey being made a bigger deal in this country.”