Australia complete Britain's dejection

Hockey

It was a disappointing weekend for Britain's men in Ipoh, Malaysia, where they lost both their games in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. On Saturday they were defeated 3-2 by Malaysia and yesterday, in a rearranged game played late in the evening to avoid the high mid-afternoon temperatures, they were beaten 5-0 by Australia.

Against Malaysia, after falling 2-0 behind, Britain fought back with goals from John Shaw and Jason Laslett, but could not prevent the hosts getting the winner six minutes before time.

Yesterday, after holding Australia up to the interval, barring a penalty corner goal by Jay Stacy, Britain allowed the Australians to take command in the second half. Mark Hager, the captain, found the net twice, Stacy added a second and the newcomer David Kingston completed the list.

At Milton Keynes, Surrey, with goals from Simon Tinkler, Tom Sexton and Jon Molloy, beat Lancashire 3-2 to win the County Championship. Cheshire, 2-0 winners against Cambridgeshire, took the Under-21 title.

Clifton and Ipswich will contest this year's women's Cup final on Sunday 19 May at the Milton Keynes Stadium, following yesterday's semi-final victories. Chelmsford, of the First Division, fought an heroic defensive battle against Clifton, from the Premier Division, to hold them to a goalless draw at Chelmer Park, only to lose the penalty shoot-out 4-3 as Claire Burr dived to save Chelmsford's last effort from Tracy Goodchild.

In the other all-Premier game, visiting Ipswich, with penalty corner conversions from Jane Smith and Tracy Fry, beat Doncaster 2-0 to claim their first Cup final place.