The Kookaburras are on the verge of a remarkable sweep of Test victories over powerhouse India in their Perth International Festival of Hockey series after earning their fourth win of the week.
Tom Wickham gave the team a pep talk before winning his 100th cap on Friday and they responded to carve out a hard-earned 3-1 win at Perth Hockey Stadium that puts them 4-0 up in the series.
“Let’s go!” declared West Australian Wickham, as he pondered the prospect of the Olympic-bound Kookaburras wrapping up the series 5-0 on Saturday.
Once again, the Aussies’ key marksman proved to be veteran Jeremy Hayward, who made it six goals for the week and 118 in his glittering international career with his penalty-corner double.
With the start of the match having to be delayed by half an hour as a storm brewed, Kookaburras keeper Johan Durst quickly found himself at the eye of another one as India came out determined to finally break their duck.
Durst had already made one fine save when the visitors' superstar skipper Harmanpreet Singh beat him in the 12th minute from a penalty corner to give India the first-quarter lead.
But Hayward produced a devastating strike to equalise after the first break and with Australia increasingly pressurising the Indian defence, made it a second double in two days as he scored after two minutes of the final quarter to give the hosts the advantage.
Six minutes from full-time, Jack Welch then sealed the win with another fierce strike as the Australians changed up their short-corner routine.
After his landmark match, Wickham explained: "Before the game Moose (captain Aran Zalewski) asked if I had anything to say.
"I just said I wanted the boys to dig in and play and essentially embody how I try to play the game, which is just to leave it all out there.
"India showed up but I think we're just bringing some real momentum out there. Even when things weren't perfect we were able to keep digging in and that's what I love, and it's so good we played like that on my 100th. Just so cool."
