It was West Australian Craig Boynes night as he scored twice to help the Kookaburras to a thrilling four goals to three win over India on the second night of the International Super Series Hockey 9’s. England men were also winners on Friday, with the Hockeyroos and the Jillaroos - Australia's U21 side - winning in the women's competition.
The Kookaburras had their work cut out as a skilled and fast paced Indian outfit were up for the challenge against the highly fancied Australians.
It was India that opened the scoring first through their captain Sardar Singh.
Australia replied with a well worked goal from forward Boyne who added a second just before the half to have the Kookaburras well positioned going into the break.
Right on half time India made the most of a short corner and ensured the spoils would be two a piece going into the second half.
In a tense second half that included a wonder goal from Jacob Whetton, a missed penalty, the deadlock was broken by Kookaburras forward Trent Mitton to maintain Australia 100% record and setup a thrilling date with London Olympic bronze medal playoff opponents England.
It was a Mariah Williams inspired Jillaroos who dominated the opening game on day two against Malaysia.
The young star scored either side of half time to set up a four goal victory and take her tournament goal tally to three.
Coming off the back of a tough seven goal defeat to the Hockeyroos the night before the Jillaroos didn’t waste time and made an instant impact on the score sheet with a third minute goal courtesy of Williams.
It was then Naomi Evans and Jordyn Holzberger who found the back of the net in the first half to setup a three goal lead at half time.
The Jillaroos then controlled the second half and added to their tally through Williams to setup a possible final against fellow Australian’s the Hockeyroos this weekend.
Malaysia had the tough task of backing up against the Hockeyroos in the second game of the night and fought hard in the first half to restrict the Australian’s to only one goal from Rebecca Reuter.
The Hockeyroos were a different team in the second half pilling on six goals, two to Kandice Olivieri, Fiona Boyce and one each to Reuter and captain Jodie Schulz to make it Australia’s night in the women’s competition.
In the other men’s game of the night, forward Nick Catlin was the difference for England scoring twice against Pakistan, as the fourth ranked nation finished the stronger of the two teams to take a four goals to two victory and maintain a perfect record at the Hockey 9’s tournament.
The action all kicks off again tomorrow with two highly anticipated clashes with Australia taking on England and Asian confederation nations India and Pakistan set it do battle.
The International Super Series Hockey 9's is a unique and exciting concept that is played with nine players and a modified game time of 20-minute halves with larger goals to ensure plenty of action.
Jillaroos 4 (Mariah Williams 2, Naomi Evens 1, Jordyn Holzberger 1)
Hockeyroos 7 (Kandice 2, Fiona Boyce 2, Rebecca Reuter 2, Jodie Schulz 1)
England 4 (Nick Catlin 2, Barry Middleton 1, Ben Arnold 1)
Pakistan 2 ( Haseem Abdul Khan 1, Umar Muhammad Bhutta)
Kookaburras 4 (Craig Boyne 2, Jacob Whetton 1, Trent Mittion 1)
India 3 (Sardar Singh 1, Danish Mujtaba 1, Gurwinder Singh Chandi 1)
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