Australia , New Zealand register victory in opening fixtures of Cricket World Cup

Feb 14, Melbourne
On the opening day of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, hosts Australia and New Zealand have registered victory in their opening fixtures on Saturday.

At Melbourne Cricket Ground, In a Pool-A match Australia defeated England by 111 runs. Visitors were all out for 231 runs. James Taylor 98, was the lone English batsmen that provided resistance to fiery Australian attack.

Mitchell Marsh single handedly removed the top and middle batting order as he took 5 wickets.

Australia batting first amassed a total of 342 for the loss of 9 wicket in stipulated 50 overs.

Opener Aaron Finch scored the first century of this world cup.

He scored 135 before being run out. For England the high point was Steven Finn’s hat-trick, in last three bowls of the innings.

He became the first English bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick. He returned with figures 5 for 71.

Earlier in the morning, in another Pool-A match at Christchurch, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 98 runs.

Chasing a mammoth target of 332 Sri Lanka were all out at 233. For Sri Lanka Lahiru Thirimanne’s 65 and some fighting 46 from Skipper Angelo Mathews were the best scores.

For New Zealand Tim Southee, Corey Anderson, Adam Milne, Daniel Vettori and Trent Boult picked two wickets each.

Earlier in the morning, half centuries by skipper Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson enabled Kiwi’s to post 331 for the loss of six wickets in stipulated 50 overs.

On Sunday, in Pool B encounter South Africa will take on Zimbabawe at Hamilton 6:30 AM Indian Time, and India will take on archrivals Pakistan at Adelaide Oval 9:00 AM Indian Time.