England shrugged off their recent 5-2 defeat against the Australians in the Hamburg Masters with a better performance against the Koobaburras in the first of two test matches at Highfields, Nottingham, last night.
The match got off to an unpromising start with the visitors' Chris Cirello scoring twice from corners in the first ten minutes, but Ben Hawes managed to pull one back before Cirello cracked in another from a corner to earn his hat trick. Ashley Jackson reduced the deficit to one, with a penalty corner strike shortly before the break. England had two more scoring chances before the half-time hooter sounder, with a Jackson corner strike hitting the crossbar and a Martin Jones reverse stick shot going high.
The second half saw a 20 minute period without a goal until Australia's Luke Doerner found the net from a penalty corner. Australia drew three ahead four minutes later when Jason Wilson found the net from open play. It was not over for England yet, with Jackson scoring from a penalty corner in the 63rd minute and following this up with another corner conversion in the 70th minute. Final score 5-4 to Australia.
England play Australia in the second and final test match at Highfields on Friday evening.
England squad against Australia at Highfields: George Pinner (Beeston), Dan Fox (Hampstead & Westminster), Richard Mantell (Reading), Alistair Wilson (Beeston), Ben Hawes (Surbiton), Ashley Jackson (HGC), Glenn Kirkham (East Grinstead), Barry Middleton (HGC), Rob Moore (Surbiton), Matt Daly (Surbiton), James Tindall (Surbiton), Richard Alexander (Surbiton), Adam Dixon (Beeston), Jonty Clarke (Reading), Martin Jones (Beeston) and Simon Mantell (HGC).
