Australia, the five-time champions have truly been woken up from their slumber in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup and the last game against the Netherlands showed their full might with both bat and ball. Some might debate that it was against a weaker opposition, then Australia chose to put on a record-breaking opening stand riding on the carnage caused by David Warner and Travis Head in the powerplay against New Zealand on Saturday, October 28 in Dharamsala.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham decided to bowl first and Australia gave their trans-Tasman rivals a pasting, a proper belt treatment with the bat. Australia raced to 50 in just 4.1 overs with both Head and Warner going great guns. Head, in particular, who was playing his first game in more than a month after recovering from a hand injury and it didn't look like he was away from the game. Both the openers were severe on Matt Henry, who gave away 44 runs in three overs.
They kept going and brought the team's hundred in just the 9th over before ending the powerplay on a score of 118. This was the second highest score in the first 10 overs in an innings in World Cup history after West Indies' 119-run blast against Canada 20 years ago and joint-third highest in ODI cricket history, equalling New Zealand's 118-run score in the powerplay against Sri Lanka in 2015.
Highest team scores after first 10 overs in ODI World Cup history
119/1 - West Indies vs Canada (Centurion, 2003)
118/0 - Australia vs New Zealand (Dharamsala, 2023)
116/2 - New Zealand vs England (Wellington, 2015)
94/0 - India vs Afghanistan (Delhi, 2023)
94/0 - South Africa vs Sri Lanka (Delhi, 2023)
Highest team scores after first 10 overs in an ODI
133/0 - Sri Lanka vs England (Leeds, 2006)
119/1 - West Indies vs Canada (Centurion, 2003 WC)
118/0 - Australia vs New Zealand (Dharamsala, 2023 WC)
118/0 - New Zealand vs Sri Lanka (Christchurch, 2015)
116/2 - New Zealand vs England (Wellington, 2015 WC)
The Australian opening duo kept batting in the same vein even after the powerplay as a 400-plus total looked imminent before Glenn Phillips got both of them out. While Warner missed out on his third consecutive ODI century by 19 runs, Head reached the three-figure mark on his World Cup debut but got out soon after on 109. Head 10 fours and seven 6s in his 67-ball knock as Australia eye the magical 400-run score.
