Australia bundle out Argentina

The reverse woke up the Australians from their slumber and they scored twice more in a four-minute spell as Alyson Annan 51st capped a move with Julie Towers with a lovely hit to second angle from the left, and Katrina Powell 55th found the boards from a penalty corner. Argentina put up a last ditch fight which saw Sofia Agnes Mackenzie 65th converting a penalty corner.

The match lackedsparkle for much of the 70 minutes. The Aussies noticeably slowed down after beginning with gallop, and allowed the Argentina back into the game. If the Aussies used the wings to penetrate, then Argentina depended largely on individual bursts triggered by the through ball from the deep. The Aussies were often caught wrong-footed by these sudden breakaway moves.

After going 2-0 up, the Australians seemed more intent on defence and Argentina, runners-up at the previous World Cup, applied pressure. But somehow, the Aussie defence hung on, though it was far from a convincing display. There were moments when Argentina nearly got through, but a deflection here and a timely tackle there denied them success.

Argentina, however, could not sustain their efforts for a prolonged period and after they had pulled one back in the second-half, they began to wilt and Australia, quite suddenly, bristled with aggression, which, in turn, fetched them two penalty corners and as many goals.

In the final analysis, Australia8217;sbetter organised team effort won the day and it was more than a match for the individual brilliance of the Argentines who, with a little more cohesion, could one day rule the roast. But until then, they will have to be content with the tag of eternal bridesmaids as they were runners-up on three occasions.

SCOTS DOWN INDIA: India made a mess of its 9-12 classification game against Scotland and lost 3-5 on Friday.

The Indian girls were rather unlucky to lose. For much of the game, they outplayed Scotland who, however, ensured that they converted the few openings that were presented to them.

Shashi Bala put the Indians ahead with an early strike off a Nidhi Khullar pass, but Susan Gilmour equalised latching on to a poor clearance by Helen Soy, and goals by Paulina Robertson and Sue MacDonald made it 3-1 for the Scots.

India then staged a fine recovery through a penalty corner conversion by Stella Tirkey only to see Scotland effectively bury the challenge through goals by Alison Grant and RhonaSimpson 5-2. Towards the close, Manjinder Kaur deflected a long ball from Sita Goosein for India8217;s third goal something they had failed to do in their previous matches.

KIWIS PREVAIL: Earlier, the classification match for 5-8 placings, New Zealand overwhelmed South Africa 3-1 with strikes from Karen Smith, Tina Bell-Kake and Anna Lawrence. The lone South African goal was credited to Kerry Bee.

KOREANS WIN: In the 5-8 classification game, Korea scored twice through Mi Soon Choi and Seung Shin Oh to beat the United States 2-0.

ENGLAND TRIUMPH: Two goals by Jane Sixsmith and another by Purdy Miller, carried England to a 3-0 win against China 3-0 in another classification 9-12 game. In the play-off for placings on Sunday, India will clash with China 11-12, England meet Scotland 9-10, South Africa face the United States 7-8 and Korea take on New Zealand 5-6.