Hockey World Cup: Australia pummel England 8-1 to claim bronze medal

Reigning champions Australia settled for the bronze medal after thrashing England 8-1 in the third-fourth place playoff match of the hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

Tom Craig (9^th, 19^th and 34^th minute) scored a hat-trick while Jeremy Hayward (57^th, 60^th) netted a three-minute brace to seal the victory. Blake Govers (8^th), Trent Mitton (32^nd) and Tim Brand (34^th) were the other goal-scorers for the two-time champions.

England, who were thrashed 6-0 by Belgium in their semi-final encounter, scored their only goal through Barry Middleton in the 45^th minute. This was also the second time Australia beat England in this edition, having defeated them 3-0 in group stages.

The medal was Australia’s fifth bronze medal at the World Cup with their last coming way back in 1994 when the tournament was hosted in Sydney.

Australia started well and could have scored early from their first penalty corner. But Govers’ flick deflected over the post. It, however, took him little time to break the deadlock. And a minute later, the drag-flicker added his seventh goal of the tournament from a superb reverse-flick.

Australia never stopped from there, scoring for fun and England had to remain satisfied with a fourth-place finish.