Hosts set the pace

When a World Cup match was last played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Aaron Finch had not even started attending school. On Saturday, Finch captured the centre stage at this iconic ground with a magnificent 135 to set the pace of the latest edition of cricket's flagship event. The Finch punch saw Australia floor a miserable England, who lost the final against Pakistan at this very ground in the final 23 years back, by a margin of 111 runs. Photo: AFP

The opening day of the 2015 ICC World Cup down under was yet another testament to how much the game has evolved since the cricket's show-piece event was held on those shores 23 years ago. While there were only two 300-plus scores for the entire tournament in 1992, this time, there were two 300-plus on day one as co-hosts Australia and New Zealand both enjoyed dominating wins in front of their own fans with a pair of crushing victories on Saturday.

In the first match of the tournament, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 98 runs at Christchurch's Hagley Oval. Hours later Australia thrashed arch-rivals England by the even bigger margin of 111 runs in a day/night clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australia opener Aaron Finch, on his home ground, compiled the tournament's first century with a blistering innings of 135, having been dropped before he had scored by Chris Woakes off James Anderson.

Finch's knock, which featured 12 fours and three sixes was the cornerstone of Australia's 342 for nine, with England paceman Steven Finn's hattrick -- another first at this World Cup -- all but irrelevant.

Medium-pacer Mitchell Marsh, like Finch making his World Cup debut, then starred with the ball to take five for 33 as England were dismissed for 231 despite James Taylor's gutsy 98 not out.

England skipper Eoin Morgan flopped again with the bat as he was out for his fourth duck in five innings.

New Zealand cemented their status as genuine contenders for the World Cup with a comprehensive victory over 1996 champions Sri Lanka, the losing finalists at the last two editions.

Co-hosts New Zealand piled up 331 for six after losing the toss at a chilly Hagley Oval, with skipper Brendon McCullum (65) and Kane Williamson (57) laying the foundations before all-rounder Corey Anderson smashed 75 off just 46 balls at the finish.

The most astonishing feature of the innings, however, was that Sri Lanka spearhead Lasith Malinga, went wicketless in an expensive 10-over spell costing 84 runs.

Sri Lanka were well-placed at 124 for one but their innings fell away, with all-rounder Anderson taking two for 18.

One highlight for Sri Lanka was that Kumar Sangakkara scored the 12 runs he needed to go into second place on the list of highest one-day international run-scorers, passing Australia's Ricky Ponting, who made 13,704 runs before he retired.

Like the opening day, the second day also features two matches. South Africa, looking to end their World Cup heartache, will launch their quest for the title against Zimbabwe in an all-African clash at Hamilton's Seddon Park.

But what billions of people will be eagerly waiting to witness today is the second match between India and Pakistan, the fiercest of rivals, at the Adelaide oval.

Pakistan, who won their only World Cup in Australia in 1992, will be looking to break their world cup duck against the defending champions India.

This match is expected to be the most watched contest in the history of cricket. When general admission tickets for the match went on sale a year ago, they sold out in 20 minutes. Recent re-releases sold in seconds. That is because this game is not just cricket, it is also conflict, and Bollywood morphed into one. This is the Greatest Show on Turf.