Saturday 24 November 2018 08:21, UK
Team England sit two strokes off the pace at the halfway stage of the World Cup of Golf, as Belgium and South Korea share the lead in Melbourne.
Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton posted a two-over 74 in the Friday foursomes, where wet and breezy conditions saw only four of the 28 teams shoot under par at Metropolitan Golf Club.
The English pair are one of four teams sharing third spot, as Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry carded a one-under 71 to join overnight joint-leaders South Korea tied at the top.
"I think we played very solid," Pieters said. "Both of us were pretty on. The short game was pretty good today. It's nice to know when I hit it to five feet he's always going to make it."
Beginning the day in a three-way tie for the lead, the English pair failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker to save par at the first but made amends when Hatton holed a 15-foot birdie at the seventh.
Poulter missed from five-feet at the ninth and Hatton fired his tee shot at the next into trees on their way to another bogey, before a third straight blemish at the 11th saw them slip further down the leaderboard.
A long-range birdie from Poulter at the 14th was followed by a run of pars over the closing holes, leaving the English duo alongside Italy, India and Malaysia on eight under.
A round-of-the-day 70 from Team Mexico lifted them into seventh spot ahead of home favourites Australia and the Scottish pair of Russell Knox and Martin Laird, who posted a second-round 71.
Irish duo Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne sit tied-12th with defending champions Denmark after a four-over 76, while Team Wales' Bradley Dredge and Stuart Manley are in 20th spot thanks to a one-over 72.
Watch the World Cup of Golf throughout the weekend on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday from 1am on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event.
