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England's lack of composure rewards India

Bill Colwill
Monday 13 August 2001 00:00 BST
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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.

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