Azlan Shah Cup: Australia storm into the final

Round-up of matches on day 6 (12 May 2011) - Black Sticks hand India a drubbing

Australia 2 (Brett Dancer, Christopher Ciriello) beat Great Britain 1 (Richard Mantell) - Half-Time 2-0

The world champions remained unbeaten in the league stage, as they beat Britain in their second last match before the final today at Ipoh. Brett Dancer opened the scoring for Aussies by flicking the ball in off a penalty corner in the 8th minute.

Christopher Ciriello scored another penalty corner goal in the 29th minute, giving his team a 2-0 lead at the half-time. Britain attacked more in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty corner goal from Richard Mantell in the 57th minute. Australia too got a number of penalty corners but could not add to their two first-half goals. Australia now have 13 points from 5 matches.

New Zealand 7 (Nicholas Wilson, Blair Hilton 2, Andrew Hayward 2, Matt L’huillier, Shay Neal) beat India 3 (Sunil Sowmarpet, Gurwinder Singh Chandi 2) - Half-Time 2-2

Black Sticks thrashed India by a margin of four goals, biggest margin against them by a New Zealand team ever, to kick them out of the Cup. Sunil Sowmarpet gave India a perfect start by scoring in the 20th minute. Nicholas Wilson equalized just three minutes later but Gurwinder Singh Chandi made it 2-1 for India in the 26th minute. The pattern continued as New Zealand were again on level terms in the 32nd minute through a goal from Blair Hilton. At the hooter 2-2 was the score line.

The fast pace of the match resulted in India gaining the lead third time, and the last one, through Gurwinder Chandi’s goal in the 41st minute. The first penalty corner of the match was a fruitful one for Black Sticks as Andrew Hayward’s shot crashed into the goal giving his team the equalizer. Kiwi’s polished India with four more goals through Matt L’huillier (52nd minute), Andrew Hayward (57th minute), Shay Neal (58th minute) and Blair Hilton (64th minute). With this humiliation the defending champions are out of the competition.

Malaysia 3 (Nabil Fiqri Mohammad Nor, Faisal Saari, Izwan Firdaus) beat South Korea 1 (Nyam Hyun Woo) - Half-Time 0-1

Malaysia got their first points finally when they beat South Koreans 3-1. Malaysia felt hard done by the referee when he awarded a penalty stroke to the Koreans in the 8th minute. But keeper S. Kumar saved the shot from Jang Jong Hyun much to the relief of home fans. In the 17th minute, Nyam Hyun Woo gave Korea the lead through a penalty corner.

Malaysians played as if they had nothing to lose in the second half and were rewarded in the 43rd minute as Nabil Fiqri Mohammad Nor’s reverse flick found the goal. Faisal Saari gave Malaysia the lead in the 58th minute, followed by a goal from Izwan Firdaus in the 67th minute to seal a comfortable win in the end.

With just one day left for the league stage, Pakistan and Great Britain are locked at nine points each with one match to play for both. Pakistan face resurgent Malaysia, while Britain are up against a below-par Korea tomorrow.