'Getting three points more important than record'

Australia on Thursday broke a 28-year old World Cup record with a crushing 12-0 win over South Africa but neither coach Ric Charlesworth nor the players were aware about their achievement till the end of the match.

Australia eclipsed Pakistan's 12-3 margin win over New Zealand in 1982 in India.

"We lost our first match against England before beating India 5-2. We thought of beating South Africa by a huge margin because goal difference could be a factor in deciding who would reach the semi-finals from this tough Pool B.

"We did not have any thought of creating a record. None of us knew that was a record till the end of the game," Charlesworth said.

Even the Australians players came to know about the record when the scribes informed them during the post match media interaction.

But for them points matter more.

"We have an idea that it was a new record but we are happy having done that. For us three points are important, record or not," Liam de Young, who captained the side on Thursday under Australia's rotational policy, said.

Star player Jamie Dwyer, who captained the side in Australia's first match against England, also said the record was news to him.

"It is good if it is that (a record). We did not know it. But more important we got three points and are improving every game after the loss against England in the first match," he said.

Dwyer, who was named 2009 World Player of the Year, said the rotational captaincy among himself, Young and Mark Knowles was done to share responsibility.

"We have been doing this for long in Australia, even in other sports. It distributes the responsibility among three of us senior-most players," he said.

"In team meetings everybody has an equal say and any player can put forth their suggestions. But three of us will take turns as captain and each will have to take responsibility at the pre- match training, dealing with the media like this, besides leading the side during the match," he added.

Drag-flicker Luke Doerner, who scored four goals said he was happy that his side had come good in penalty corner conversion after not doing well in their earlier two matches.

 "We are happy we have done well. There was not much concern though. We did not do that well against England but we were 50 per cent in penalty corner conversion against India and we came good today," he said.

Asked how many flicks he used to take during practice on a day, he said, "I used to do at least 40 flicks a day."