The ICC schedulers ensured that the 2015 World Cup was guaranteed an interested audience right from the off. All the big guns have opened their accounts, and results have arguably gone with expectations, although none of the matches have produced an exciting finale.
The New Zealand-Sri Lanka opener was perhaps the hardest to predict, but Brendon McCullum's destructive innings and Corey Anderson's 75 off 46 to ridicule the death bowling reputations of Malinga and Kulasekera got the Black Cap off to a blistering start in Pool A. Across the sea at the MCG, fellow hosts Australia demolished the old enemy in considerable style.
Still no Michael Clarke so George Bailey skippered the side whose only failure was to win the toss. Aaron Finch became the first centurion of the tournament with 135, then Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin gave the England pacemen a late mauling before Steve Finn's end-of-innings hat-trick lent the fielding side a spurious air of confidence. Eoin Morgan's men had after all conceded 342 runs and were about to see Starc, Hazelwood and Johnson unleashed upon Moeen Ali and Ian Bell. In the end, it was Mitchell Marsh's medium pace which did the damage, together with a few superb catches, leaving England's final partnership of James Taylor and Jimmy Anderson 13 overs in which to knock off 150-odd runs.
A shame the match ended in controversy after the umpires came unstuck over an lbw decision which turned into a run-out. Taylor may feel aggrieved that the mistake deprived him of a likely debut ODI century, but England were never going to win the match. Morgan's position looks perilous after notching his fourth duck in five innings. However, England can hardly sack him mid-tournament,and he will get his chance of making runs against Scotland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Quarter-final qualification should be assured. Failure to progress may leave selectors no choice but to replace him with, in my humble opinion, either Root or Taylor.
Earlier today at Hamilton, Zimbabwe handed South Africa an early scare dismissing the top four for only 83 after barely 20 overs. However, the Proteas bat deep, and this merely spurred David Miller and JP Duminy into thrashing a world fifth wicket ODI stand of 256. Elton Chigumbura's team were certainly not overawed by Steyn and Morkel, but the consistency of Philander and Imran Tahir proved more problematic. Hamilton Masakadz struck a defiant 80 but SA triumphed by 62 runs.
One of the greatest rivalries in international sport is India v Pakistan at cricket, and Adelaide had the pleasure of hosting the latest contest between the pair, with their ever-exuberant hordes of colourfully-attired fans. India came into the competition on the back of some dismal results but Virat Kohli's return to form, some fine stroke play from Dhawan and Raina plus 4-35 from Mohammed Shami were too much for Pakistan. They were bowled out three overs short, every single dismissal a 'caught'.
The West Indies enter the fray tonight, along with Associate hopefuls Ireland and Scotland, with the UAE and Afghanistan in the following few days, but the big four have laid down their gauntlets in style.
