Turner's double helps Australia thrash India

Glenn Turner scored twice to help Australia thrash India 5-2 and register their first win in the World Cup in New Delhi.

The team from Down Under, champions in 1986 and finalists in the past two editions, had lost their opening match against England on Sunday.

Liam De Young put Australia ahead in the second minute before Turner doubled the lead six minutes later.

Desmond Abbott made it 3-0 after a good move by De Young.

Nine seconds before the break, Vikram Pillay pulled one back for India, netting the ball after receiving a quick cross from the right wing.

Captain Rajpal Singh scored India's only other goal but by then Australia had scored five.

It was a successful rebound by the Aussies.

Having been shocked by England in their opener they needed a performance of this sort to reestablish their title credentials.

A nervy Pakistan put behind their defeat against arch-rivals India to eke out a narrow 2-1 win against Spain in a hard-fought Pool B encounter.

A defeat on Tuesday would have virtually shut the semifinal door on Pakistan after their 1-4 defeat against India but Abdul Haseem Khan (30th minute, 70th) sounded the board twice to see them through.

David Alegre scored the lone goal for Spain in the 67th minute.

As expected, the match started on a fast pace with Pakistan going for the attack right at the beginning.

As early as in the ninth minute of the game, Pakistan got a great opportunity to go ahead but Waseem Ahmed's shot, after dodging some Spanish defenders in side the D, was saved by goalkeeper Francisco Cortes.

But Spain seemed in no mood to sit back and got their first scoring opportunity in the next minute.

A quick through ball from captain Pol Amat found Rodrigo Garza right in front of the goal but his shot was cleared by Pakistan custodian Salman Akbar.

European champions England registered their second straight victory, defeating a lowly South Africa 6-4 in a high-scoring second Pool B match.

For England, Richard Mantell (15th minute, 57th), Robert Moore (23rd), Ashley Jackson (43rd), Nick Catlin (50th) and Iain Mackay (51st) were the goal getters, while Marvin Harper (10th, 53rd), Lloyd Norris-Jones (25th) and Thornton Mcdade (67th) registered their names in the scoresheet for South Africa.

The first half witnessed an exciting contest between the two teams with playing clean hockey and using short passes to great effect.

England, however, was the more dominant side after the change of ends as they earned penalty corners at will and pumped in four goals to inflict on South Africa their second defeat on the trot.