Melbourne, Feb 14
Co-hosts and World No.1 side
Australia showed why they are being considered the favourites by
thrashing traditional rivals England by a 111 runs in the cricket World
Cup opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Saturday.
Opener
Aaron Finch's (135) century and pace bowler Mitchell Marsh's (5-33)
five-wicket haul set up a comprehensive victory for Australia. Chasing a
mammoth 343 runs, England were bowled out for 231 in only 41.5 overs at
the iconic stadium.
Earlier in the day, Australia hammered their
way to 342/9 with Finch guiding the four-time World Champions to the
huge total with his sixth One-Day International (ODI) century. He got
good support from skipper George Bailey (55) and all-rounder Glenn
Maxwell (66).
This is the second highest total at the MCG, with the highest being 344/8 by the ICC World XI against Asia XI in January 2005.
England
pacer Steven Finn picked up 5/71, with the 2015 World Cup's first
hat-trick coming in the last three deliveries of the Australian innings.
Put
in to bat, Australia got off to a good start with David Warner (22) and
Finch scoring at a good pace. However, two back-to-back wickets of
Warner and Shane Watson (0) off pace bowler Stuart Broad (2/66) brought
down the scoring rate.
Australia received another jolt when
in-form Steven Smith (5) was bowled by medium pacer Chris Woakes (1/65),
reducing them for 70/3 in the 11th over.
However, thereon Finch
struck a significant 146-run fourth-wicket partnership with Bailey to
steady Australia's ship. Finch hammered 12 boundaries and three sixes in
his 128-ball innings.
After the duo got out, Maxwell continued the run, smashing 11 boundaries all over the ground in his 40-ball innings.
Lower down the order, Marsh and wicketkeeper batsman Brad Haddin chipped in with 23 and 31, respectively.
Finn's
hat-trick at the end brought some smiles across the English faces which
were wiped out Australian bowlers, backed by supreme fielding, as the
four-time World Champions continued their run of never having lost after
scoring 300-plus runs while batting first during the quadrennial event.
A
brilliant opening spell by medium pacer Marsh destroyed the England
top-order as he continually kept on picking wickets right from the
start. So much so that England were tottering at 92/6 by the 22nd over.
Though
by now England were more or less out of the race, James Taylor (98 not
out) joined hands with Chris Woakes (37) to strike a 92-run
seventh-wicket partnership, which helped them reach a 200-plus total.
Taylor
batted well for his 98 not out by hitting 11 boundaries and two sixes
during his 90-ball innings. He ran out of partners and England's last
wicket fell amidst drama.
Josh Hazlewood appealed when his
delivery struck the pads of Taylor. He was given out but video referral
made the umpire change his decision. However, during the confusion James
Anderson (8) was run out by Maxwell at the other end to hand Australia a
handsome victory in two points in Group A.
