But in the event Pakistan failed badly, winning only a single group match against minnows New Zealand – blaming their poor play on failure to adjust to the AstroTurf surface, used in a major hockey tournament for the first time instead of grass.

In the other group, things were expected to be more straightforward, with West Germany and Australia (Olympic silver medallists and fourth place respectively) being the two favourites.

Several times they came close from both open play and penalty corners: shots whizzed past the post, crosses were desperately intercepted, the keeper himself made a few useful saves – but the Germans were themselves dangerous on the breakaway.

Finally, in the last minute, with England on the verge of going out, they were awarded a penalty corner, from which Paul Barber scored an equalizer – almost blocked by a German stick, but it deflected into the roof of the net, forcing extra time.

The second half was a more scrappy affair – England by and large having the greater amount of possession, but unable to create any significant chances against a well-drilled Australian defensive line.

Australia Neil Snowden, John Bestall, Craig Davies, David Bell (capt), Warren Birmingham, Treva King, Grant Mitton (sub Dean Evans), Colin Batch, Terry Walsh, Ric Charlesworth, Neil Hawgood (sub Peter Haselhurst) England Ian Taylor, David Faulkner, Paul Barber, Jon Potter, Richard Dodds (capt), Martyn Grimley, Stephen Batchelor (sub Kulbir Bhaura), Richard Leman (sub John Shaw), Sean Kerly, Norman Hughes, Imran Sherwani