NEW DELHI, Oct 12 India defeated England 5-4 on penalty strokes in a stunning semi-final comeback on Tuesday to move into a Commonwealth Games field hockey final against defending champions Australia.

A crowd of 19,000 supporters went wild and gave the team a standing ovation when goalkeeper Bharat Kumar stopped Glenn Kirkham's third penalty stroke and Shivendra Kumar netted the final one.

World champions Australia beat New Zealand 6-2 in the earlier semi-final.

In a night-time match that grabbed the focus in New Delhi, India rallied from a two-goal deficit to level 3-3 in regulation time. Striker Tushar Khandkar twice came close to scoring the golden goal during extra time but England goalkeeper James Fair stood firm under the bar.

Ace penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh's shot off a penalty corner also went wide during the first half of extra time.

For England, Ashley Jackson scored twice off the penalty corners - on either side of the halftime - and also hit the upright off the fourth to miss a hat-trick. Simon Mantell's powerful drag flick off an indirect penalty corner also went into the net as England led 3-1.But India surged back through Vikram Pillay and Saravanjit Singh's deflection and made numerous attacks in the last five minutes but could not get the match winner.

Saravanjit Singh had shot India ahead off the only first-half short corner in the 19th minute when Dhananjay Mahadik's push was stopped by Fair, but gave enough time to Saravanjit to dab the ball in.

In the earlier semi-final, Simon Orchard and Glenn Turner scored two goals apiece for Australia and kept the reigning champions on course for a fourth successive gold medal.

Turner and Orchard scored goals on either side of halftime with Jason Wilson and Des Abbott also scoring field goals for Australia.

Abbott set up Turner for Australia's first goal in the 25th minute after Luke Doerner's three drag flicks off short corners were smartly stopped by goalkeeper Kyle Pontinfex.

The New Zealand defence erred twice in three minutes when it gave enough space to Orchard and Jason Wilson as Australia went 3-0 up by halftime.

Des Abbott's hard push shot Australia 4-0 ahead in the 43rd minute before New Zealand hit back through Blair Hilton and captain Phil Burrows.

New Zealand tried hard to close the gap and left enough spaces in the defence for Turner to score off a reverse flick from a narrow angle and Orchard completed the tally three minutes from time.

South Africa earned fifth place when Justin Reid scored a golden goal off a 75th-minute penalty corner for a 3-2 comeback win over 10-man Pakistan. The match finished 2-2 in regulation time.

Pakistan defender Mohammad Irfan was shown the first red card of the tournament after he deliberately pushed Marvin Harper with his hockey stick inside the striking circle 12 minutes before regulation.

Irfan's push had little effect on Reid, who equalised through a drag flick off a 62nd penalty corner.

Striker Rehan Butt scored both goals for Pakistan - the second one a brilliant solo run from the centre line to beat goalkeeper Erasmus Pieterse.

Scotland, who did not score a goal in four pool matches, beat Trinidad and Tobago 7-0 in the ninth-place classification match.

Results

Semi-finals

Australia 6 New Zealand 2
India 3 England 3

(India won 5-4 on penalties)

5th-6th place match
South Africa 2 Pakistan 2

(South Africa won on golden goal)

9th-10th place match
Scotland 7 Trinidad and Tobago 0.—AP