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.
Controversy is going on when asked about caste and religion in the recruitment of Agniveers in th
In Iran, the protests continued after the death of Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini in police custody for
Fit Kejriwal excited to resume work
Bengaluru, March 16 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said he was feeling f
Rally for road safety among women held in Delhi
New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) A rally to promote road safety awareness among women was organised he
Kejriwal tells volunteers to 'Chill', Relax
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) A day after the Delhi assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvi
The second encounter will be between Kolkata and Rajasthan in the doubleheader match to be held i
new Delhi
The second wave of corona in India is becoming intense. In February, on average
CBI nabs Bank Of Baroda official for graft
Mumbai, March 21 (IANS) The CBI has nabbed an assistant general manager of the Bank Of Baroda h
From Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Neetu Kapoor to Kareena Kapoor and Karishma Kapoor, recently
Nepal's military on Monday traced the spot where a Nepalese private airlines plane crashed on Sun
