Tindall grabs double as Britain stun favourites Australia

Surbiton had the most players from any one club – Richard Alexander, Ben Hawes, Rob Moore and James Tindall – in the team that beat Australia on Sunday in their opening Hero Honda FIH World Cup pool match in Delhi.

Tindall scored two goals as England secured an historic and memorable victory over the pre-tournament favourites, ranked number two in the world to England’s sixth.

The win was England’s first over Australia in a World Cup match since 1975 and only their fifth in 52 matches.

Ric Charlesworth’s Kookaburras will be left ruing their inability to convert numerous penalty corners after they scored just one of 13 compared to England’s two from three.

And it was England’s composed and resolute defence, marshalled by goalkeeper James Fair, which provided the foundations for such an impressive result.

Going into the game, Australia were for many observers the team to beat and they began the match with the best of the early pressure.

Grant Schubert signalled the Kookaburras’ intent from the off, when he flashed a reverse stick shot wide with less than a minute on the clock, and Australia were awarded the first of two early penalty corners with just two minutes gone.

Glenn Kirkham cleared the danger of the first in front of Fair, who then pulled off a good save with his left glove from the second corner in the fifth minute.

With seven minutes on the clock, good work from Richard Smith down the right played in Surbiton's Moore and his cross from the right was dangerously deflected up off an Australian stick for England’s first penalty corner.

The ball out from Moore to the top of the circle was set up for Ashley Jackson, who plays his league hockey for HGC in Holland, but his low flick flew wide of the bottom of the left post.

On 10 minutes, Australia’s Matthew Butturini was suspended for two minutes after receiving a green card but England failed to take advantage and, with Australia back to a full complement, Glenn Turner came close to giving them the lead.

Two fortunate deflections off the sticks of England defenders fell kindly to Turner in front of goal but England breathed a sigh of relief as he missed the target.

There then followed a five-minute spell that saw Fair pull of a series of excellent saves to keep England in the game and ultimately set them up for the historic win.

First, at full stretch, he tipped a high, looping reverse-stick effort from Turner wide with his left glove before coming off his line quickly to block from Eddie Ockenden at point-blank range.

Following an unconverted Australian corner, Fair was called on again in the 20th minute, keeping out Des Abbot’s strike from a narrow angle on his near post.

There was little the Cannock goalkeeper could do to stop the awarding of a penalty stroke to Australia, when Richard Mantell committed a foul on Ockenden with the goal gaping.

Up stepped three times world player of the year Jamie Dwyer, whose powerful low penalty stroke squeezed under the left glove of Fair and into the goal to give the Kookaburras the lead.

England had struggled to impose their attacking game on the Australians but, having gone behind, they rallied and a probing run from Nick Catlin won England their second penalty corner of the match.

From the set piece, Jackson flicked the ball powerfully high above goalkeeper George Bazeley and into the roof of the net for an immediate equaliser.

Jackson’s goal was England’s first against Australia in a World Cup since the 1986 final in London, which the Kookaburras won 2-1.

Inside the last five minutes of the first half, Surbiton's Moore conceded a penalty corner wide inside the English 23m area but again Australia failed to convert and it was to cost them as the half came to an exciting conclusion.

Having been under pressure for most of the opening 35 minutes, England surprised everyone inside the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium by taking the lead with less than two minutes of the half remaining. Ali Brogdon had fired a warning to the Australians a minute earlier, when midfielder Iain Mackay put the faintest deflection on the Bowdon player’s shot and Bazeley had to react well to save with his right leg.

In the 33rd minute Korean umpire Hong Lae Kim awarded England their third penalty corner for the ball hitting Luke Doerner’s foot. With Jackson sitting on the bench, it was left to Mantell and Surbiton's Tindall to mastermind the set piece.

The slip left from the top to Tindall gave the local club man the space to fire a shot across Bazeley that nestled in the far bottom corner to give England a 2-1 lead at the break.

The goal was all the sweeter for 26-year-old Tindall given that his participation in the World Cup was only confirmed a week ago after recovering from a broken foot sustained in the Champions Trophy in Melbourne in December.

The second half began at pace and, in the opening spell, both sides enjoyed possession.

Patient Australian build-up play was matched by patient English defending and defender Ali Wilson was unlucky to have a corner awarded against him after 43 minutes.

Turner’s break along the left baseline saw the Australian lift the ball into the arm of Wilson and the corner was awarded. More strong defending kept the Kookaburras out.

Moments later Surbiton's Tindall sparked a counter attack that led to his second goal as England extended their lead to 3-1.

Cutting in from the left wing, Tindall played a pass to his Surbiton team-mate Moore on the penalty spot.

Moore’s touch ahead of the advancing Australian goalkeeper diverted the ball towards goal but, with the ball rebounding off the post, it looked as if Australia had survived.

Tindall, though, had other ideas and followed up to knock the ball into the empty goal.

At the other end, Australia thought they had their second penalty corner of the half when Fair raised a clearance to head height after cutting out a cross from the wing.

However, as soon as the corner was awarded, Kirkham appealed the decision using England’s team referral to the video umpire.

A lengthy delay followed as the replay was reviewed, Kirkham arguing that the initial decision to award Australia a sideline pass was incorrect. Ultimately, the appeal was successful and the decision reversed.

Australia used their appeal to win another penalty corner midway through the half after the ball hit the foot of Surbiton's Ben Hawes but the deflected effort flew wide of Fair’s right-hand post.

Fair was then called into action as the Kookaburras split the English back line but he was equal to the task, saving on his post.

Jackson came close to putting England 4-1 up in a goalmouth scramble but goalkeeper Bazeley and his defence just managed to clear the danger.

Two more green cards followed; one each for Simon Orchard and Surbiton's Hawes, the latter conceding a penalty corner that Australia tried, unsuccessfully, to have upgraded to a penalty stroke. Fair got down well to his right to save Mark Knowles’ straight strike and Mantell followed up to turn the ball onto the foot of a waiting Australian forward.

With just over five minutes remaining Australia halved the deficit with their first goal from 13 penalty corners.

James Fair’s block of the initial effort fell back into the danger area and Dywer was in the right place at the right time to lift the ball into the net to pull a goal back going into the final minutes.

With Australia pushing for an equaliser, Mantell successfully appealed a decision to give the Kookaburras another corner after he had tackled Abbot with the ball rolling onto the foot of the young forward.

Umpire Kim initially gave the corner for a follow-up foul against the Reading defender but Mantell’s original tackle was the vital one and the decision was reversed.

Entering the final two minutes, England sat deep, soaking up intense Australian pressure and, with the vocal Indian crowd counting down the clock, they held on to secure a memorable and valuable victory.

England manager Andy Halliday praised the efforts of Fair and the penalty corner defence team but admitted England were second best throughout: “It was a fantastic result but the performance could have been so much better.

"I think it’s a measure of how much this team has progressed that we can play poorly and beat Australia.

“James [Fair] and the penalty corner defence were outstanding today.

"We’ll certainly not get carried away just because we have won game one.”

Previously in Pool B, Spain (world-ranked third) beat South Africa (13th) 4-2 in the opening game of the tournament.

Hosts India (12th) beat fierce rivals Pakistan (seventh) 4-1 in the final match of the opening day.

On Monday, in the other pool, New Zealand (eighth) beat Canada (11th) 3-2; Korea (fifth) and Germany (first) drew 2-2; and the Netherlands (fourth) beat Argentina (14th) 3-2.

England squad v Australia:

James Fair (Cannock/GK); Ben Hawes (Surbiton); Richard Mantell (Reading); Richard Smith (Loughborough Students); Alistair Wilson (Beeston); Ashley Jackson (HGC); Glenn Kirkham (East Grinstead); Rob Moore (Surbiton); Iain Mackay (Reading); Barry Middleton (C) (HGC); James Tindall (Surbiton).

Rolling substitutes used: Richard Alexander (Surbiton); Alasdair Brogdon (Bowdon); Nick Catlin (Loughborough Students); Jonty Clarke (Reading); Adam Dixon (Beeston).

Did not play: Nick Brothers (Reading/GK); Dan Fox (Hampstead & Westminster).