The Kookaburras have honoured veteran Brent Livermore in his 300th international match, defeating England in Nottingham.
The match ends what was an overall successful European tour for the Kookaburras, which saw them defeat France in a two test series, push Germany in two tests, win the Hamburg Masters tournament in Germany and defeat England in a two test series.
In what was a fairly even first half, the Kookaburras gained the edge in the closing stages with Chris Ciriello continuing his good recent form over England to give Australia the lead. Glenn Turner followed this with another goal only minutes later to set up a two goal lead at half time.
Jamie Dwyer could have made it three before the break, but his reverse stick hit was saved by England goalkeeper Nick Brothers.
Whilst the first half was fairly even, the same could not be said for the second as the Kookaburras turned up the heat and put in a dominant display for the final 35 minutes. Their intensity forced England into making a number of errors and possession was given away too easily by the home side.
In the 40th minute the English defence made a brave diving tackle to put a stop to a dangerous Australian attack, but the inevitable happened seven minutes later with a goal which started from a four versus three attack.The initial shot was cleared by Brothers, but the rebound was cleared up by Glenn Simpson to make it 3-0.
The onslaught continued with their fourth just two minutes later when Dwyer was on target after sliding in on the right post.
Australia’s final attack of the match saw Liam De Young supply Fergus Kavanagh. In turn he found Jamie Dwyer who opened his shoulders to unleash a powerful shot from close range, but it went straight into the goalkeeper’s pads.
England netted a consolation goal four minutes from time, but the goal will have done little to please the team.
WAIS athletes Fergus Kavanagh, Graeme Begbie, Ian Burcher and Ross Meadows have travelled with the squad.
In other men’s hockey news:
Western Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder Chris Bausor has helped the Burras to finish on top of Pool B at the 2009 Men’s Junior World Cup after defeating South Africa overnight.
The victory meant they finished on equal points with Germany, with a penalty stroke shoot out required to determine first and second place.
The Burras were successful at the shoot out, with Kieran Govers, Chris Bausor, Matt Gohdes and Tristan White converting their goals while goalkeeper Leon Hayward stopped two German shots.
Two first half goals to the Burras was enough to secure victory against South Africa, with David Collins, Malcolm Kemp, Adrian Lockley and Tristan White amongst the best players.
In the Burras previous match, they drew 1-1 with Germany on Thursday 11th June, with the two teams emerging as the teams to beat at the Junior World Cup
– Hockey Australia
