Malaysia's aggressive hockey failed to top a still rusty Australia in the Azalan Shah Cup, the Kookaburras winning 3-2.

It was the Australians first win of the men's tournament after losing their first match to Spain 3-1 and drawing 1-1 with South Korea.

"We tried some players out of position today and the experiment worked well," said Australian coach Barry Dancer.

"In terms of penetration we did well but our overall performance is still not up to expectations. Our defenders were guilty of ball watching but we look forward to a better display against India."

Australia will clash with the South Asian giants on Tuesday in the seven-nation round-robin.

"It is going to be a totally different ball game against India and we are not treating the match lightly," Dancer said.

Australia opened scoring in the 11th minute when Grant Schubert and Ben Bishop combined well to set up Travis Brook, who had the easiest of tasks guiding the ball into an empty Malaysian goal with keeper S. Kumar well beaten.

But Malaysia threw caution into the wind and took the game to the Aussies, scoring the equaliser in the 18th minute when Keevan Raj pounced on a rebound off the pads of Australia keeper Mark Hickman to scramble the ball over the goal line.

A lapse in the Malaysian defence cost the home team dearly when Troy Elder converted Australia's first penalty corner in the 31st minute to give Australia a 2-1 lead going into the breather.

Kumar, who has been having a good tournament so far, was guilty of gifting Australia its third goal when he padded the ball straight to Elder, who scored in the 52nd minute.

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