After some wild weather, the Hockeyroos claimed maximum points over Great Britain, while the Kookaburras also came out on top at the FIH Pro League in Sydney over the weekend.
The Hockeyroos took maximum points from their two FIH Pro League encounters against Great Britain after persistent lighting and thunderstorms saw Sunday's second match cancelled.
After an initial 45 minute delay because of lightning with six minutes to go in the second quarter and Great Britain leading 1-0, the players returned to complete the first half only for the match to again be halted a minute before the second half was set to resume.
A lengthy delay ensued as the storm continued until the FIH Chief Executive Officer eventually made the decision to abandon the game, meaning it is considered cancelled.
As stipulated in the FIH regulations, if one of the two matches played between two teams is cancelled prior to the commencement of the fourth quarter, the winner of the other match will receive double points.
Thus the Hockeyroos come away from the weekend with the maximum six points after winning Saturday's match 2-1.
“The rules have been put in place so at the end of the day it is out of our control, we can’t do anything about it,” said Hockeyroos co-captain Emily Chalker after the decision to call the game off.
“We were hoping to get out there because we still had something to prove. Being 1-0 down and just missing the opportunity to get a penalty stroke awarded, everyone was quite fired up and wanting to get out there.
“We love playing against Great Britain, they are a really tough opposition so we were looking forward to finishing the game and they have come a long way to play so I’m sure it is frustrating for both sides.”
“Unfortunately mother nature intervenes sometimes and we can’t control the weather but I guess if there is a positive, hopefully there is some good rain falling in places that need it, especially those that have been affected by the bushfires and drought.”
Meanwhile, the Kookaburras produced a scintillating attacking display to thrash Great Britain 5-1 in their FIH Pro League match in Sydney to move up to third position on the table.
Dylan Wotherspoon, Lachlan Sharp, Tom Craig, Tim Brand and Trent Mitton all scored, feasting on the home side’s dominance across the pitch which saw the Kookaburras generate 32 circle penetrations and 15 shots.
“Playing back to back games is always interesting and I thought we approached the game pretty well and obviously got a good result from it,” said Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch after the Kookaburras won game one in a shootout.
“We fell in a hole in the third quarter yesterday so there was some emphasis on our defensive intensity today which was much better, and Great Britain have got some great attacking players so we needed to be on top of that.
“We managed to create opportunities throughout and when you are doing that you feel like you are in control of the game, but things can turn around really quickly.
“In the first three games we had 10 goals scored against us so we need to tidy up our defence. To win hockey matches you need to create and score, but you also need to defend well so that’s an area we can improve on.
“We feel as though we are getting some connections and momentum going but we start again against India in India and it will be interesting because we haven’t played them for a while and I believe they are one of the improving sides of the past 12 months.”
The Kookaburras will fly back to Perth tomorrow to prepare for their next FIH Pro League matches in India on 22/23 February, while the Hockeyroos prepare to take on Argentina in Perth on 6/7 March.
