MELBOURNE, Australia —
England should be extremely upset James Anderson was given out wrongly, thus bring an abrupt end to a very brief phase of the match where they seem to be enjoying themselves.
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Eoin Morgan and his men may not have been very poor last night, but they definitely looked that way as hosts Australia put in a commanding performance to win their opening match of the 2015 World Cup by 111 runs.
This, despite a hat-trick for Steven Finn, and two wickets in two balls for Stuart Broad as early as the eighth over.
England had themselves to blame, apart from the unbelievable Australian fielding. Yesterday was irrefutable proof that catches win matches in cricket.
Chris Woakes dropped Aaron Finch even before he had opened his account, and the opener smashed a classy knock of 135 which won him Man-of-the-Match award.
They then dropped David Warner on seven, and he put on a quick 57 with Finch. On 40, Glenn Maxwell (66 in 40 balls) was dropped by wicketkeeper Jose Butler of Finn, and he combined with Brad Haddin (31 in 14 balls) for an explosive seventh wicket stand of 61 runs in 27 balls.
When England batted, there were several catches that seemed physically impossible. Haddin dove to his left and made sure captain Morgan’s woeful run with the bat continued, while Mitchell Starc ran almost 20 yards to what looked like a Ian Bell boundary into his dismissal.
But the best effort was by Steven Smith, who reacted in a split second while standing as close as short cover to pouch a full-blooded shot of Butler.
And while Australia were able to rebuild from 70-3, thanks to a well-planned partnership of 146 runs for the fourth wicket between Finch and captain George Bailey (55) and late pyrotechnics from Maxwell and Haddin, England sank deeper and deeper into a quagmire and the match was as good as over when they were 92-6.
It was James Taylor who provided some dignity to the English score, making 98 runs before he was cruelly denied a deserving maiden ODI hundred because of the umpiring error.
In front of a partisan crowd of 84,336, England’s end came in the 42nd over when they were bowled out for 231.
Earlier, Finn took a hat-trick of the last three balls of the innings, after Broad had clean bowled David Warner (22) and had Shane Watson (0) caught behind off successive deliveries.
Australia were on 342-6 with three balls to spare in Finn’s last over, when despite not being able to bowl the 50 overs in the allotted time, Morgan took his own sweet time rearranging the field, and the move paid rich dividend.
Haddin was the first to go, top-edging to Broad at third man, where he took a superb tumbling catch. Maxwell, who crossed over, then holed the next ball to Joe Root at long-on, who held on to a screamer.
And Mitchell Johnson perished in the final ball, pulling it to James Anderson at mid-on.
Finn finished as the most successful English bowler, taking 5-71. Mitchell Marsh also took a five-wicket haul for 33, but some of those wickets really belonged to the fielders.
England next take on New Zealand on Friday, February 20, in Wellington, while Australia play Bangladesh in Brisbane a day later.
