By Carl Markham, PA Sport

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England's women face the toughest test of all today when they take on defending champions Australia in the second semi-final at Belle Vue.

It is a repeat of the final in Kuala Lumpur four years ago when England lost 8-1 and had to settle for the silver medal.

However, England's men are preparing only for the play-off for fifth place tomorrow after they produced their most inspired performance of the tournament against South Africa but could not score and lost 1-0.

So medal hopes rest with the women and the game against the Hockeyroos will see England's Australian coach Tricia Heberle face her compatriots in the most high-profile game since she took over the job over 18 months ago.

But to her it is just another game and she is determined to finish the Games on a high.

"Australia is a nice challenge for us. We came into this event with a lot of goals and, having not achieved one of topping the group, it was important to get a semi-final berth," she said.

"No semi-final is going to be easy, it doesn't matter who the opponents are.

"I think this is going to be a good one, it is part of our learning curve in getting to be consistently in the top six in the world and I am very much looking forward to it."

England hammered Scotland 6-1 yesterday as Ipswich forward Leisa King netted her second international hat-trick.

Manchester-born Kate Walsh scored for the second successive match with co-captain Sarah Blanks and Helen Grant also on the scoresheet, with Samantha Judge replying for the Scots.

However, the resounding victory was achieved without the services of Grant's Olton club-mate Lucilla Wright who was admitted to hospital on Tuesday evening after a grazed shoulder sustained in the opening game against New Zealand became infected.

She is the only doubt ahead of this evening's crunch clash against the Hockeyroos, also Olympic and world champions, who breezed through their group scoring 25 goals and conceding just one.

"We have been quite fortunate with injuries. It was a minor setback not to have Lucilla but what we showed is that we are very flexible positionally and that gives you confidence when you can lose a significant person from the group but you don't notice it on the pitch," said Blanks.

"If she is not there running around with us today then we will cope."

Blanks said the whole squad is buzzing with the anticipation of taking on the Hockeyroos in front of a partisan home crowd.

"Australia are one of the best teams in the world and we are very excited about playing them," she said.

In the other women's semi-final, India take on New Zealand after staging a remarkable comeback having been 3-0 down at half-time against South Africa, they won 4-3 with a golden goal.

Scotland go into the fifth-place play-off against the Springboks, who beat them 4-1 in the group phase, while Canada and Malaysia are in the wooden spoon match.

The outlook is not so bright for England's men, who must lift themselves from the doom and gloom following their soul-destroying 1-0 defeat to South Africa in time for tomorrow's game against Canada.

In one of the best displays seen for a long time, England completely dominated the first half, carving out numerous chances, but one defensive mistake saw Emile Smith snatch the winning goal six minutes from half-time.

Even in the second half, England - without penalty corner specialist Dave Mathews whose hamstring tear in the previous game against Wales has sidelined him for up to six weeks - missed enough opportunities to turn the game around.

Captain Craig Parnham admitted he was stunned that they could play so well and not be able to score.

"We created as many chances there as I've seen in a long time," said the Cannock defender.

"They were good chances and it is disappointing we didn't convert."

England were paired with Canada after they lost 3-2 to New Zealand, for whom Hayden Shaw - the tournament's top scorer with 11 - netted this third successive hat-trick.