England's lack of composure rewards India
Germany, with a powerful exhibition of attacking play, maintained their 100 per cent record in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here last night to beat Korea 3-2 in an exciting final. The winning goal came at a well-rehearsed penalty corner by Christoph Eimer with just 30 seconds remaining, the Germans having twice come from behind. Australia took the bronze medal, beating Pakistan 4-3, whilst England had to settle for sixth, their only honour for 10 days of hard toil in the Malaysian sun being the Fair Play Cup.
Goal shy England ended the tournament with a second defeat, going down 2-0 to a young Indian side consisting mainly of their Under-21 team.
After opening promisingly England paid for a lack of concentration in the 20th minute. Mukesh Kumar retrieved a ball on the side line which looked certain to go out of play, and centred to find Tejbir Singh unmarked in the circle with a only a simple finish needed. Worse was to follow 10 minutes later when Dilip Tirkey found the back boards from India's first penalty corner.
England play three Tests against South Africa in Johannesburg in October and there is much work to do before they face the World's élite in November's Champions Trophy in Lahore.
ENGLAND: J Lewis (Cannock); B Barnes (Reading), T Bertram (Bournville), J Evennett (Canterbury), R Todd (Reading); J Goudie (Loughborough Students), G Fordham (Guildford), M Johnson (Cannock), M Kochar (Reading); C Graham (Bournville), D Hall (Guildford, Capt). Substitutes used: B Waugh (Surbiton), D Haydon (Teddington), D Mathews (Canterbury), M Pearn (Reading), S Mason (Reading).
INDIA: D Chauhan; D Tirkey, B Singh, J Singh; S Singh Gill (Capt), B Lakra, T Ignace; M Kumar, B Singh Chandi, D Thakur, D Singh Dhillon. Substitutes used: M K Prakash, S Varkey, T Singh, P Singh, A Raghuvanshi.
Umpires: T Pullman (Aus), P Singh (Malaysia).
RESULTS: Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (Kuala Lumpur): 7th Malaysia. 5/6th: India 2 England 0; 3/4th: Australia 4 Pakistan 3; Final: Germany 3 Korea 2.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies