Cricket: Australians run up sizeable score

Aaron Finch celebrates his century. Photo / Getty Images

The early rounds of the World Cup have a phony-war feel to them but they will help determine one crucial aspect: what is a defendable total.

Already, it looks as if six-an- over is a must.

New Zealand got things off to a rollicking start with a score well in excess of 300 in Christchurch and last night Australia posted 342-9 on the vast expanse of turf that is the MCG.

They got there largely thanks to a woeful start in the field by England. Aaron Finch, Australia's only top-four contributor of note, was dropped on 0 by Chris Woakes, a simple enough chance at square leg. Some 135 runs later, Woakes must have been feeling rather small as the opener walked off to a standing ovation from the huge crowd.

Moeen Ali compounded Woakes' mistake by making a derisory effort to catch David Warner at mid-off - James Anderson the luckless bowler again.

Warner (22) didn't capitalise, being clean bowled by a pacey Stuart Broad, who then induced an edge from Shane Watson's bat from the first ball he faced. When Woakes bowled Steven Smith off an inside edge, the visitors were well on top.

Enter George Bailey, a man so hopelessly out of touch his role could be likened to a Davis Cup non-playing captain. From somewhere he rediscovered his wellspring of confidence and, in playing a secondary role to Finch, started to look like a cricketer again.

Bailey's 55 is unlikely to change his fate - he will most likely be on the outer looking in when Michael Clarke returns against Bangladesh.

One player who won't be on the outer is Glenn 'The Big Show' Maxwell. He typically mixed the brutal with the outrageous on his way to 66 off 40 balls, setting up what looked close to an insurmountable total.

In a cute curiosity, he was also the second victim in possibly the world's worst hat-trick, taken by Steve Finn in the last over of the innings.

There will be various factors that come into play when establishing what is or isn't a realistic target, including size of the ground, state of the wicket and quality of opposition. A total of 300 might be no better than par on Eden Park's embarrassingly short straight boundaries, while 280 might be too many to chase at the Gabba.

What seems certain is this will be the highest-scoring World Cup of them all. New rules introduced in 2012 means, outside power-plays, only four, not five, fielders can operate outside the circle.

This has undoubtedly increased the ratio of boundaries, but one-day cricket is also in a period when batting has hold over bowling.

Not all of this can be put down to big bats and small boundaries, because it also needs to be remembered that there are two new balls and fielding has never been more athletic.

Batsmen have simply got more innovative and a lot braver, not so much from a physical point of view - although it takes real courage to attempt a scoop shot against bowlers going at more than 140 clicks - but from a mental perspective. They're no longer shackled by an obsession with their averages. They realise that a good average is only meaningful if it's allied to a healthy strike rate.

In short, they're not scared of getting out and it's hard to argue against the fact that makes the game a greater spectacle. That's why virtually all of the MCG's 87,000 seats were occupied last night.

• This game finished too late for this edition of the paper. Go to cricketfever.co.nz for all the latest news and results.

For more coverage of the Cricket World Cup from nzherald.co.nz and NZME check out #CricketFever.