Australia 5 defeated Malaysia 2
AUS – Luke Doerner PC 38m PC 39m PC 70m, Jamie Dwyer PC 45m, Brent Livermore PS 55m; MAS - Rahim PC 59m, Jalil FG 68m

Luke Doerner's penalty corner flicking was on show last night as he helped the Australian men to five second half goals in their 5-2 win over Malaysia.

In another match with a high number of turnovers the Australian side were pushed in attack with the Malaysian's defending dourly, resulting in uncharacteristic skill errors from the Kookaburras.

"We found it difficult to generate penetration against a well organised and determined defence," said national coach, Barry Dancer.

While they struggled to break the Malaysian defence in general play, the Australians were able to create opportunities in attack through some well worked penalty corner plays, particularly from Luke Doerner's powerful flicking.

Scoring four conversions out of six attempts, the Malaysians had no answers as Doerner scored twice in two minutes (38m and 39m), Dwyer in the 45th minute and Doerner again in the last minute of the match.

Brent Livermore, the penalty stroke specialist, was also able to get on the scoreboard in the 55th minute after some Malaysian defending was ruled illegal and a penalty shot awarded.

The Kookaburras will fly to Melbourne today to begin their Commonwealth Games gold defence, their first match against Scotland on Friday March 17 at 7pm.

In other news, the Australian Women's Commonwealth Games team scored a convincing 5-1 win over England in a practice match last night. While it was a very informal match, with two thirty minute halves, national coach Frank Murray would have been happy with what he saw, particularly with Nikki Hudson getting back among the goal scorers with two great goals.

The women play their first match, against India, on Thursday March 16 at 6pm.