Opener Finch (135) and Mitchell Marsh (5 for 33) destroy England

Opener scores magnificent hundred before allrounder takes five wickets in Cricket World Cup opener at the MCG,

Victorians Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell have set the tone for Australia’s Cricket World Cup campaign in electrifying fashion against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, blasting the co-hosts to a record 9-342 from their 50 overs.

England paceman Steve Finn snatched his own piece of history with the final three deliveries of the innings, incredibly grabbing a hat-trick, but it did little to diminish the Australians’ dominance throughout the previous 49.3 overs.

Finch has often played second fiddle to his more high-profile opening partner David Warner, but the 28-year-old now has twice as many ODI hundreds as his NSW counterpart, and his 135 from 128 balls in his maiden World Cup outing stole the show on the grandest of stages and laid the foundation for a mammoth total.

Maxwell then set about rubbing salt into English wounds with a rapid 66, and considering the highest-ever successful run chase at this venue is 295, the Australians will head into the field supremely confident of forcing a first-up victory. Throughout the duration of Finch’s innings, England captain Eoin Morgan could have been forgiven for wondering what might have been.

(CA)

SCOREBOARD

Australia
David Warner b Broad 				22
Aaron Finch run out (Morgan) 		       135
Shane Watson c Buttler b Broad 			00
Steve Smith b Woakes 				05
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 		00
Mitchell Starc not out 				00
Extras (lb 2, w 3) 				05
TOTAL (9 wts; 50 ov) 			       342

Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Warner, 7.3 ov), 2-57 (Watson, 7.4 ov)
		 3-70 (Smith), 4-216 (Finch, 36.3 ov)
		 5-228 (Bailey, 38.1 ov), 6-281 (Marsh, 45.1 ov)
		 7-342 (Haddin, 49.4 ov), 8-342 (Maxwell, 49.5 ov)
		 9-342 (Johnson, 50 ov)
Bowling: Anderson 10-0-67-0
	 Broad 10-0-66-2
	 Woakes 10-0-65-1
	 Finn 10-0-71-5
	 Ali 9-0-60-0
	 Root 1-0-11-0

England
Moeen Ali c Bailey b Starc 			10
Ian Bell c Starc b Marsh 			36
Gary Ballance c Finch b Marsh 			10
Joe Root c Haddin b Marsh 			05
Eoin Morgan c Haddin b Marsh 			00
James Taylor not out 				98
Jos Buttler c Smith b Marsh 			12
Chris Woakes c Smith b Johnson 			37
Stuart Broad b Starc 				00
Steven Finn c & b Johnson 			01
James Anderson run out (Maxwell) 		08
Extras (lb 3, w 11) 				14
TOTAL (10 wts; 41.5 ov) 		       231 

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Ali, 4.4 ov), 2-49 (Ballance, 9.4 ov)
		 3-66 (Bell, 13.4 ov), 4-66 (Root, 13.5 ov)
		 5-73 (Morgan, 18 ov), 6-92 (Buttler, 21.2 ov)
		 7-184 (Woakes, 35.2 ov), 8-194 (Broad, 36.1 ov)
		 9-195 (Finn, 37.1 ov), 10-231 (Anderson)
Bowling: Starc 9-1-47-2
	 Hazlewood 6.5-0-45-0
	 Johnson 8-0-36-2
	 Marsh 9-0-33-5
	 Watson 3-0-13-0
	 Maxwell 4-0-35-0
	 Smith 2-0-19-0