CHARLOTTE Richardson blasted four goals to ignite England's World Cup hopes and then insisted England can go on and win the tournament.

The blonde attacker destroyed Wales with her first-half blitz while at the other end, Wycombe-based goalkeeper Anita Thorose was beaten just once as England crushed Wales 13-1 to advance to the second phase of the competition.

England were 11-1 up at half time and the determination in the camp was summed up when Thorose, of Gordon Road, smashed her stick against the post in anger at being beaten by the solitary Welsh strike.

Player-of-the-match Richardson said, after her first ever four-goal international haul: "It was a great boost to our confidence and we feel we can go all the way to the final and win it. We're playing well and the spirit is good."

England's Welsh walkover, in front of 1,400 fans at Wycombe Abbey School, came 24 hours after they had been beaten 9-7 by Australia, who like England are fancied to rival the Americans for the medals.

And England's Tylers Green-based coach Lois Richardson believes England are running into form at just the right moment and can beat the Aussies when the tournament enters the knockout stages.

The Pipers Corner teacher said: "There is more to come from this team. We're definitely in contention for silver and I believe any team can beat another. The Aussies may have beaten us but we gave them quite a shock and I think we can get the Aussies."

England trailed the Aussies 6-3 at one stage during their opening game in front of 1,200 supporters on Saturday but then battled back to 7-all before the Aussies popped up with two more goals to win it.

Richardson said: "I was very pleased with the way we came back. I thought at times we looked much more in control than them and I really think we can beat them next time but we will have to defend better on the break and sink our shots."

Thorose added: "We had the Aussies rattled. We kept hitting back at them and I think we proved it to ourselves that we can beat them.

"We scored goals against them, we had a lot of possession but we need to tighten up defensively."

Last night England were due to play four-times winners and tournament favourites America, but the result is academic in terms of who qualifies for the next stage with both sides already having qualified.

America breezed through the group with two wins out of two on the opening two days at Wycombe Abbey. They crushed Wales 17-1 in their opening match and then beat Australia 7-5 in the next.

Wednesday and Thursday's action sees the start of the knockout phase of the competition. Matches start at 10.30am, 1pm, 3pm and 6.30pm on both days with the two semi-finals taking place on Thursday at 3.30pm and 6pm. All the matches take place at Wycombe Abbey School.

The final and third and fourth place play-off matches take place at Adams Park on Saturday with the third place final starting at 11am, the final at 2pm and the closing ceremony at 4pm.

Tickets for all days are still available and can be bought at the venues staging the matches.