England recorded their second successive win in the men's field hockey World Cup with a 6-4 thriller against South Africa on Tuesday.

Former champions Pakistan overcame the 1-4 loss to India in the first match to pip Olympic silver-medallists Spain 2-1 and pocket their first points in the 12-nation tournament.

Pakistan led 1-0 at halftime through a goal by Abdul Haseem, before David Alegre drew level for Spain in the 65th minute after the goal was referred to the video umpire.

Pakistan earned their first penalty corner two minutes before the final whistle and veteran Sohail Abbas' shot was deflected into the goal by Haseem for the winner.

"The World Cup started for us today," said Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan. "I hope this is going to be the turning point for us in this tournament.

"We played to a plan and it worked."

European champions England, who had stunned hot favourites Australia on Sunday, edged past the South Africans in a game where

both sides suffered defensive lapses.

Richard Mantell scored two penalty corners, while Rob Moore, Ashley Jackson, Nick Catlin and Iain Mackay chipped in with a goal each for England.

Marvin Harper scored twice for South Africa, and Lloyd Norris-Jones and Thornton McDade netted one each.

The first 25 minutes produced four goals as South Africa and England took turns to take the lead, before the two sides took the break deadlocked at 2-2.

England scored thrice in quick succession when play resumed to make it 5-2, before Harper reduced the margin for the Africans. Two more goals ensued — one from either side — before the final whistle.

It was the first time in World Cup history that England pumped in six goals in a single match. They had scored five against Pakistan in 1998, but still lost the match as their rivals netted seven.

"Scoring six goals means a lot and I am happy with the win, but we were not consistent enough," said England captain Barry Middleton.

"We should have played

well throughout the 70 minutes, but we did not do that against the South Africans. Our defence was not up to the mark.

"We have a tough game against Pakistan on Thursday and really need to work on our game," he said.

South African captain Austin Smith said his team made the same mistakes as they did in the 2-4 loss against Spain.

"We competed well in the first half and I was delighted with the 2-2 scoreline,” said Smith. "But we let ourselves down in the second half.

"England were very good after the break and scored too many goals. We were left chasing the equaliser which was not easy against a quality team like England."

On Monday, two-time defending champions Germany came from behind to force a2-2 drawon South Korea.

Dutch penalty corner ace Taeke Taekema slammed the first hattrick of the tournament to help his team crush Argentina 3-0.

In another group A match, New Zealand came back from a I -2 deficit at half-time to defeat Canada 3-2, with Ryan Archibald scoring the winner four minutes before the final whistle.