Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Australia bag 11th Champions hockey crown

August 09, 2010 14:39 IST

Australia trounced England 4-0 and claimed a third successive Champions Trophy, 11th in all, in a rain-delayed match in Moenchengladbach (Germany), on Sunday.

England, who had never finished better than fifth, were runners-up while the Netherlands placed third after beating Germany 4-1.

Spain beat New Zealand 3-1 to finish fifth.

It was Australia fifth perfect campaign after Pakistan in 1978 and 1980, Netherlands in 2000 and Germany in 2001.

Luke Doerner opened the scoring for the Aussies, converting his side's first penalty-corner.

A minute later Desmond Abbott finished off a pass from Glenn Turner and Jason Wilson made it 3-0 in the 14th minute with a stiff shot.

England had three penalty-corners at the end of the first half, but Ashley Jackson and Simon Mantell failed to make the most of them.

A cloud burst at the half-time break caused a 60-minute delay.

Play slowed down in the second half because of the heavy pitch, but Jamie Dwyer increased the tally for the Aussies in the 49th minute to dash whatever hopes the English may have had of staging a fightback.

The 4-0 scoreline equalled the highest score in a Champions Trophy final, achieved by Germany and Australia.

Australia coach Ric Charlesworth was delighted with his team's perfect record of six wins from six matches.

"If you had told me before the tournament we would have these results I would have been very happy. You don't expect it will happen," Charlesworth said.

"We came here with the most inexperienced team in the tournament and this has deepened the belief of a number of players that they can play at this level."