India 4 Australia ‘A’ 3

Australia 4 Pakistan 3

SYDNEY, June 5: Striker Jamie Dwyer guided Australia into the final of a tri-nations men’s field hockey challenge tournament here on Thursday as the home side secured a 4-3 win over Pakistan at Homebush.

Dwyer scored three goals in a dominant display, including two in the space of three minutes midway through the second half.

In Thursday’s second match, India beat Australia A 4-3.

Australia’s senior side, who drew 3-3 with India the previous day, overcame a pre-match setback when Josh Hawes, nursing a hamstring injury, was ruled out, giving Robbie Hammond an unexpected call-up.

Hawes, who suffered the injury during the second half of Australia’s clash with India, is a doubtful starter for the remaining matches this weekend, including Sunday’s final.

Australian coach Barry Dancer was full of praise for Dwyer.

“Jamie has had a good series all-round and tonight was the highlight,” said Dancer.

“There were younger players also who contributed tonight, players like Zain Wright, Liam De Young and Hammond.”

Australia created several scoring chances and were able to get in behind the Pakistani defence throughout the first half.

The opening goal came in the eighth minute through midfielder Ben Taylor.

His goal was answered by Dilawar Hussain less than a minute later as Pakistan took advantage of loose defending from the Kookaburras.

Australia continued to press and were rewarded again in the 19th minute with Liam De Young’s pace down the left wing creating an overlap.

De Young bypassed Rehan Butt, scooted downfield and found Michael McCann deep in the left-hand corner, whose cross was met with an expert finish from Dwyer.

Pakistan began the second half in a rush, with Mudassar Ali Khan (39th minute) and Shakeel Abbasi (48th) scoring off a penalty corner rebounds.

But with momentum swinging in Pakistan’s favour, Dwyer turned on the magic with his second and third goals.

His second came from an acute angle on the right of the circle, then the third was an unstoppable reverse-stick shot.

Tempers frayed late in the game, with players and officials from both sides involved in a heated debate before calm was restored.

Australia’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be decided on Saturday when India meet Pakistan.

In India’s Thursday match, the visitors recovered from an early shock, when Tristram Woodhouse gave Australia A a six-minute lead, to equalise after 23 minutes through Dilip Tirkey.

Australian Grant Schubert made it 2-1 in the 29th minute, but Sandeep Michael made it all square at 2-2 by the interval.

Prabhjot Singh (43rd Minute) and Woodhouse (50th) locked up the game at 3-3, leaving Michael to slam home the winner for India 18 minutes from the final siren.—AFP