Kiwis sink England

England's women were brought down to earth by New Zealand as the Kiwis sank four penalty corners in their 5-0 victory in the Champions' Trophy in Macau, China, yesterday.

Having started well with a 1-1 draw against China on Saturday, England's inexperienced line-up was humbled by an aggressive New Zealand team who enjoyed a dream conversion rate from set-pieces. They scored from four of their 10 corners, while England drew a blank from nine.

"This was the last thing we needed after our promising start against China," admitted the coach Tricia Heberle, whose charges drew 2-2 with New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games this month.

Two down at half-time, England recovered after the break but could not find the net. Then, two more New Zealand corners in the space of six minutes put the game out of reach, with the fifth coming from a 66th-minute breakaway.

In other games, China went on to upset the five-time winners Australia 1-0, as the Olympic and world champions squandered several chances and were unable to convert any of their five penalty corners.

Argentina struggled to a 1-1 tie with the European champions the Netherlands. The Dutch took the lead in the 15th minute, but the defending champions, who beat New Zealand 1-0 on Saturday, equalised seven minutes after the break off a powerful drive from their captain Karina Masotta.