Wallis rescues England

James Wallis scored his first goal for England as they came from behind in the Champions' Trophy in Berlin last night to draw 1-1 with India and claim their first point of the tournament, writes Bill Colwill.

In a disappointing first half England, who found it difficult to break down a strong Indian defence, were restricted to just one scoring opportunity at a penalty corner and were even unable to take advantage of their opponents being temporarily reduced to 10 men when Kumar Nandanoori was penalised for a foul on Russell Garcia.

With both teams committed to attack after the interval there were chances at both ends before Nandanoori opened the scoring in the 52nd minute with the English defence holding off. England's reply came three minutes later when Wallis slipped behind the defence to jab home Nick Thompson's free hit. As the teams strove for the winner, Simon Mason brought off two good saves for England.

Earlier in the day defending champions Pakistan were beaten 2-0 by the Netherlands.

ENGLAND: S Mason (Reading); J Wyatt (Reading), J Halls (Old Loughtonians); G Fordham ( Hounslow), Kalbir Takher (Cannock), S Hazlitt (Hounslow, capt); C Mayer (Cannock), J Lee (Old Loughtonians), N Thompson (Old Loughtonians), R Garcia (Polo Barcelona), B Sharpe (Cannock). Substitutes used: C Giles (Havant), J Wallis (Teddington), D Hall (Guildford).

INDIA: S Anjaparavanda; M Rajnish, A Alexander; Harpreet Singh, S Sandeep, S A Khan (capt); M K Nandancori, R N Mohd, D Pillay, E Mascaranhas, G Ferreira. Substitute used: Baljit Singh.

Umpires: P van Reth (Neth), C Siebrecht (Ger).

Champions Trophy (Berlin): Netherlands 2 Pakistan 0; England 1 India 1. Standings: 1 Australia P3-5pts; 2 Germany 3-5; 3 Netherlands 4-4; 4 Pakistan 3-3; 5 India 3-2; 6 England 4-1.