Melbourne, Australia: Aaron Finch fired an aggressive century in his World Cup debut to guide Australia through an early collapse and toward a big total of 342-9 in its opening Pool A match against England on Saturday.
Finch made 135 off 128 balls in front of an appreciative crowd of around 90,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes made early inroads against Australia's top-order.
The hosts were sent in to bat and were in trouble at 70-3 when captain George Bailey (55) joined Finch in sharing a 146-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Glenn Maxwell smashed a quick-fire 66 with 11 boundaries to power the final 10 overs, in which Brad Haddin had 31 off 14 balls and Mitch Marsh made 23 from 20.
Steven Finn (5-71) completed a five-wicket haul with a hat trick off the last three balls, claiming Marsh, Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson for a duck.
After England appeared to squander the new ball with wayward and predictable bowling, Broad (2-66) make the breakthrough in the eighth over when he clean bowled David Warner (22) with a yorker that dislodged his leg-stump, then claimed Shane Watson with the next ball for a duck.
After driving a confident boundary through mid-off, Steve Smith made just 5 in his 15 minutes at the crease when he played on an in-swinging Woakes (1-65) delivery to usher Baily to the middle.
The score could have been very different if Woakes had been able to hold a simple catch off Finch at square-leg in the first over with the opener yet to score.
Finch was eventually run out for 135 off 128 balls when he attempted a single only to be beaten by a direct hit on the stumps by Eoin Morgan.
Bailey was out overs later when he edged a Finn delivery on to middle stump.
