England took fifth place after overcoming a 3-1 deficit to win a penalty shoot-out against South Korea 4-3 on Saturday.Argentina dominated the early exchanges in the final, opening the scoring in the fifth minute. Luciana Aymar, who was named player of the tournament, wove her way through the Dutch ranks to provide the chance for Ines Arrondo to score. But with under two minutes remaining the Dutch, who have won the tournament five times, equalised through Ageeth Boomgaardt at their third penalty-corner attempt.With no golden goal in extra time, the final went to a shoot-out. After a very poor first barrage, which resulted in only two goals, the contest went into sudden death, ending when Mariela Antoniska saved Fatima Moreira de Melo’s effort.England’s victory was their third successive win over South Korea this year and undoubtedly the most important. It was a fine finale to their campaign, which had had its ups and downs. Their coach, Tricia Heberle, was delighted with the squad’s performance.

It was left to the 21-year-old Helen Richardson to step up to score England’s last stroke to secure victory.Helen Grant had begun the scoring for England during open play, finishing off a glorious flowing attack in the 11th minute for the first of her two goals. South Korea then shot into a 3-1 lead before England showed great determination to claw their way back with a goal from Jane Smith and Grant’s second strike to force extra time.Scotland lost their final game of the tournament 0-3 to New Zealand to finish 12th in the 16-team competition.MEADOWLEA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP (Perth, WA): Bronze medal: China 2 Australia 0. Final: Argentina 1 Netherlands 1 (after extra time, Argentina won 4-3 on penalty strokes).. It might seem improbable at the moment but there are Test teams considered by the International Cricket Council to be worse than England. Their record of 14 defeats in 15 Tests, 10 by an innings, has validated the widespread view that they were not ready and another one-sided day was further evidence.Their selectors compounded the inexperience by including four teenagers in the team.

Anwar Hossain, two days short of his 19th birthday, opened the batting on debut and Talha Zubair, who is two years younger, opened the bowling.Their woes began with the day’s first ball, an inswinging yorker from left-armer Pedro Collins that would have been too good for most batsmen and certainly was for Hannan Sarkar, who lost his off-stump.By lunch, they were 70 for 5. They were revived by a partnership of 73 between another teenager Alok Kapali, who showed genuine potential with 52 filled with nine classy fours, and their captain Khaled Mashud, 22. After Vasbert Drakes, the 33-year-old making a Test debut delayed for seven years while he played in South Africa and on England’s county circuit, bowled Khaled, the last five wickets fell for 22. Following yet another defeat on their miserable tour of Australia, it is hard to imagine which emotion the England captain, Nasser Hussain, finds more galling.