World Cup: Australia vs England scoreboard

Melbourne, Feb 14 (IANS) Scoreboard of the Australia innings against England in their World Cup opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Saturday.

Melbourne, Feb 14 (IANS) Co-hosts Australia hammered their way to 342/9 in their cricket World Cup opener against England at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground here Saturday.

Opening batsman Aaron Finch (135) guided the four-time World Champions to the mammoth total with his sixth 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 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.

However, thereon Finch struck a significant 146-run fourth-wicket partnership with skipper 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, Mitchell 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 but their batsmen have a huge task ahead as history shows that Australia have never lost after scoring 300-plus runs while batting first.

Australia
David Warner b Broad 22
Aaron Finch run out (Morgan) 135
Shane Watson c Buttler b Broad 0
Steven Smith b Woakes 5
George Bailey b Finn 55
Glenn Maxwell c Root b Finn 66
Mitchell Marsh c Root b Finn 23
Brad Haddin c Broad b Finn 31
Mitchell Johnson c Anderson b Finn 0
Mitchell Starc not out 0
Extras (lb 2, w 3) 5
Total (nine wickets in 50 overs) 342
Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Warner, 7.3 overs), 2-57 (Watson, 7.4), 3-70 (Smith, 10.3), 4-216 (Finch, 36.3), 5-228 (Bailey, 38.1), 6-281 (Marsh, 45.1), 7-342 (Haddin, 49.4), 8-342 (Maxwell, 49.5), 9-342 (Johnson, 49.6)

Bowling
James Anderson 10-0-67-0
Stuart Broad 10-0-66-2
Chris Woakes 10-0-65-1
Steven Finn 10-0-71-5
Moeen Ali 9-0-60-0
Joe Root 1-0-11-0

Match details:
Toss: England chose to field
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire: Joel Wilson (West Indies)