POINT TABLE ICC WORLD CUP 14-02-2015

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Australia win

Finch, Marsh star in big Australia win

Mitchell Marsh's 5/51 decimated the England middle order in a stiff chase 

The World Cup marked its return to Australia and New Zealand after a gap of 23 years and both sides feasted on their respective oppositions to get their campaign off to a rollicking start. Shortly after New Zealand registered an emphatic win over Sri Lanka at Christchurch, Australia inflicted a 111-run hammering on England in the second Pool A match of the ICC World Cup 2015 at Melbourne.

Over the course of 100 overs, the match witnessed many firsts. Steven Finn became the first English bowler to register a World Cup hat-trick while Mitchell Marsh recorded his first five-wicket haul. However, all that was pale in comparison to Aaron Finch's sixth ODI century, which fetched him the distinction of becoming the fourth Australian cricketer after David Boon, Geoff Marsh and Andrew Symonds to score a century on World Cup debut.

Finch's 135 powered Australia to 342/9, after which Marsh's 5/51 shot England out for England 231 as a capacity crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, touching almost 100,000, witnessed a real treat. A lot depended on the kind of start the English batsmen provided, and once the top four were removed for less than 70, there wasn't much scope of staging a comeback. James Taylor (98) staged a lone battle with Chris Woakes (37), but England's collective failure with the bat once again proved to be their Achilles heel.

Mitchell Starc provided Australia with an early breakthrough with the wicket of Moeen Ali in the fifth over. Ali, who had hit Josh Hazlewood for two boundaries in the previous over, miscued a pull off a back-of-a length delivery from Starc to find Australian skipper George Bailey at mid on. Ian Bell looked good from the outset and played his trademark cover-drives. But regular wickets at the other end prevented England from getting even a single partnership going barring the seventh-wicket stand of Woakes and Taylor.

Bell and Gary Ballance took England to 49 before Marsh's introduction changed the course of the England innings. In his first spell comprising four overs, he removed Ballance, Bell and Joe Root, and then came back to dismiss England skipper Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler to finish with a maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs. The English batsmen fell victim to some poor shot selection and it was evident from the way their top order got out. While Ballance was out chipping to Finch at short-midwicket, Bell and Root mistimed deliveries which were short of length.

Taylor was the only batsman who showed some resistance. His fifty off 61 balls gave England some much-needed stability during the middle overs. Taylor and Woakes took England past 150 without further casualties and although their brave effort accounted for some entertaining strokeplay, it wasn't enough to get England over the line. Woakes' dismissal was followed by two quick wickets of Stuart Broad and Finn and had it not been for Taylor holding the fort, the margin of loss could have been more embarrassing.

The 25-year-old marched towards his maiden century but agonisingly missed out on the landmark by two runs. The end of the game was surrounded by controversy though. Hazlewood appealed for a leg-before against Taylor, which was given in favour of the bowler. However, Taylor and Anderson ran with the former reviewing the decision after the call. According to the rules, once the umpire makes his decision, whatever happens from there on doesn't matter. The replay showed the ball missing the leg stump but the fact that Anderson was run out at the other end signalled the end of the innings, much to Taylor's disappointment.

Earlier in the day, once Morgan put Australia in, Finch along with Glenn Maxwell and Bailey, who shrugged off his poor from with a 69-ball 55, took the skin off the England bowling attack and racked up 105 runs in the final 10 overs. The first 15 overs witnessed a see-saw battle between the two sides. England's initial sloppy fielding and wayward bowling allowed Finch and David Warner to race to 57 inside eight over, after which Broad and Woakes hit back with three quick wickets.

The wickets of Warner and Steven Smith were always going to be big, considering the freakish form they've been in of late. But England, despite sending both of them back inside three overs, ended up conceding their highest total against Australia. Three wickets in three overs was the perfect platform required for England to cash in, but the resolute batting pair of Finch and Bailey thwarted the opposition. England stemmed the run flow but once Finch got to his fifty, the scoring rate went up. Finch reached the three-figure mark off 102 deliveries.

By the time Finch and Bailey's 146-run association ended, the side had already crossed 200 with 12 overs to go. Maxwell found perfect partners in Marsh and Brad Haddin, with whom he added 53 and 61 runs towards the fag end of the innings. Maxwell, coming off a rampaging century against India in the warm-up, began where he had left off in Adelaide. He reeled off 33 runs off 12 balls and registered his fifty off 30 balls. In the final over, Finn sent back Haddin, Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson for a hat-trick, making him the first English bowler to achieve the feat in a World Cup.

Brief Scores: Australia 342/9 (Aaron Finch 135, Glenn Maxwell 66; Steven Finn 5/71) beat England (James Taylor 98, Chris Woakes 37; Mitchell Marsh 5/51) by 111 runs.

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India-Pakistan World Cup games

Walk down memory lane: India-Pakistan World Cup games

Pakistan are yet to beat India in a World Cup match. 

It seems like it was yesterday that the ultra-rich and the poor were bound by a common thread that spelt victory. A vast, diverse nation was united by emotions like relief and satisfaction, delight and national pride. India's peoples' collective desire to encourage success came through tellingly when the team beat Pakistan for the fifth time in a World Cup cricket match in 2011.

Of course, there are many memories of India-Pakistan cricket, including Test matches in both nations, ODIs at a lot of venues, including Sharjah, and T20Is, including the first two in the ICC World Twenty20 2007 in South Africa. But, given that the World Cup comes only in four years, it would be appropriate to sift them and focus on the matches under the Big Tent.

The most emotional of them all, personally speaking, was played in 1996. Of course, India had won in Sydney in March 1992 but the contest in 1996 was played in Bangalore where the atmosphere was electrifying. Everyone recalls the spat between Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail and Indian swing bowler Venkatesh Prasad but there was more in that match than just that.

With Wasim Akram pulling out of the game, Waqar Younis was Pakistan's lead bowler and Ajay Jadeja waded into him in the final three overs. India took 41 runs off those overs. The other strong memory I have of that match is Javed Miandad's slow walk back to the pavilion after being run out. It was almost as if his shoes were weighed down with lead.

Three years later, England got their first insight into the nature of fans from the sub-continent and those who traced their roots back to South Asia as Mohammed Azharuddin's team won a tight game at Old Trafford in Manchester. Azharuddin himself launched a late attack to give the Indians a good total to defend and Venkatesh Prasad responded with a five-wicket burst.

From our seats in the press box, we could only sense a hint of trouble between the fans of the two teams, especially second-and-third-generation members of immigrant families but we learnt much later that some uncouth fans burnt the Indian flag after the match and were hauled up the law officers.

When India beat Pakistan in Centurion in the 2003 World Cup, Rahul Banerji, my colleague from the now defunct website espnstar.com, and I were pulled to the terrace of our East Delhi apartment to watch fireworks light up the night sky. It was a veritable Diwali in March, the pyrotechnics doing justice to the strokeplay of a certain Sachin Tendulkar.

The 2011 semifinal in Mohali saw the bowlers scrape hard to win for India and this after Tendulkar was dropped quite a few times during his 85 and Pakistani paceman Wahab Riaz's five. Dhoni's wisdom in choosing left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra over R Ashwin won him praise for his assured captaincy.

There was one frame that etched itself on my mind and I have to thank Shahid Afridi and Zaheer Khan and their smiles for that. Afridi chipped Zaheer to mid-wicket and the ball dropped just short of the fielder there and he managed just a single. As Afridi completed the run, they both broke into a smile.

Despite the unprecedented hype that preceded the game, there was not a hint of acrimony on the field that some expected in the high-voltage clash. This was highlighted when Nehra did not claim a catch after flinging himself forward at deep mid-wicket. And skipper Afridi showed grace when he unhesitatingly said "I want to say sorry to the people of Pakistan".

I remember being in the studios of All India Radio and as I drove back home afterwards, it seemed that flag-waving fans, young and old, were at the India Gate and Connaught Place, showcasing an outpouring of emotion that had started as soon as the cricket ball found safety in Virat Kohli's hands to signal the completion of the match.

What new memories will Sunday offer?

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