The second day of competition at the Investec Challenge in Cape Town, South Africa saw The Netherlands cruise to a 4-1 victory over England before Australia battled to a draw against the host nation at the Hartleyvale Stadium.
England fell to their second successive defeat in the competition when they were beaten 4-1 by reigning Olympic champions The Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon. Sophie Bray got England’s fresh faced youngsters off to the best possible start against the Dutch with an excellent early goal before the girls in orange showed their class, with Kitty Van Male Maartje Paumen (2), and Roos Drost all finding the target.
The match between the Hockeyroos and South Africa was an ill-tempered affair, with the teams battling to a 1-1 draw. Australia’s Anna Flanagan netted a penalty corner in the 51th minute when she went for the top shelf on brilliant SA goalkeeper Sanani Mangisa’s stick-side but the blow was cancelled out eight minutes by Jade Mayne’s tip-top deflection goal off Shelley Russell’s powerful cross from the right.
Highlights from both matches can be seen by clicking the above video.
Wednesday is a rest day, with the action resuming on Thursday when England play Australia and South Africa face The Netherlands.
