Australia thrashed England at Melbourne

14th February, Melbourne  - Australia thrashed arch-rival England by 111 runs in their first match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at MCG in Melbourne. Aaron Finch was awarded man of the match for his well played century.

Scorecard - Australia vs England at Melbourne

Match Report

Co-hosts Australia hammered their way to 342/9 after being put into bat by England in their cricket World Cup opener here Saturday.

Aaron Finch (135) smashed the first century of the tournment and guided his team to set mammoth total. He was well supported bt skipper George Bailey (55) and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (66). The fourth wicket partnership of 146 runs between Finch and skipper Bailey turned the momentum for Australia. It was Finch sixth century in ODI

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 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 brought down the scoring rate.

Australia received another jolt when in-form Steven Smith (5) was bowled by medium pacer Chris Woakes, reducing them for 70/3 in the 11th over.

Chasing Australia's mammoth total of 342/9 in 50 overs, England were bowled out for 231 in 41.5 overs. Marsh was mainly responsible for as he took five wicket haul to push England on the backfoot. James Taylor (98*) remained the top scorer for England. 

Steven Finn Hat-trick

Finn's hat-trick at the end brought some smiles across the English faces but their batsmen have a huge task ahead as history shows that Australia have never lost after scoring 300-plus runs while batting first. Steven Finn Saturday took the first hat-trick of the 2015 cricket World Cup to become the seventh bowler to do so in the history of the event.

Quotes

Aaron Finch (Man of the Match) - I am just sinking in the feeling. We knew the pitch will slow down. I hit that flick nicely off the middle off the bat, I was a bit nervy. Everybody contributed today with the bat, ball and in the field. This is a good win and will give us momentum. 

George Bailey: It was a good night. We are very happy. It is a special moment. When the top stands in the MCG fill up, it is a very good sight. We had a good game. We were happy to bat first here. It was nice to get a good total. Mitchell Marsh did well on his home ground. It was a good to set a platform after we lost some wickets at the top. 

Eoin Morgan: It was a good surface. 310 was a par score. We let ourselves down in both batting and bowling. With Broad and Anderson at top, we thought we could get early wickets. Finn took his fifer and showled promise. James Taylor is batting well. Hopefully we will do well towards the quarterfinals