Australia 316 for 9 (Cooper 104, Finch 74, Warner 54, Alexander
4-47) beat South Africa 141 (Keen 3-10) by 175 runs
Scorecard

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Tom Cooper with his Man-of-the-Match award
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Australia's future generation matched their senior side by inflicting a
crushing defeat on South Africa, launching their World Cup campaign in
stunning style and with ruthless efficiency at the SSC ground. In what has
been dubbed "the group of death" - also including West Indies and the USA
- this was a vital match for both teams and it was Australia who burst out
of the blocks.
It was a dynamic performance, started by the batsmen and Tom Cooper's 104
- the first century of the tournament - before being capped off by a
dominant show from the pace attack. Following their failure to reach the
Super League stage in 2004, Australia have a point to prove this time
around and come across as a highly focused and motivated unit.
The chirp in the middle also showed this was a typical Australia-South
Africa clash. A few words were exchanged during both innings, the results of which were similar to those that have been witnessed down under in recent weeks.
Simon Keen tore through the South African middle with three wickets in the
first three overs, producing a series of deliveries that nipped off the
seam. The ball to remove Romano Ramoo was a gem, drawing the approval of
the Australia coaching staff who watched proceedings from the press
gallery.
Chasing 316, South Africa were always going to be up against it, especially with the
Australian attack finding extra bounce and carry provided from the SSC
pitch. Moises Henriques, the captain, made the early incisions, striking
twice in his opening spell; Ben Cutting chopped out two for himself, and
Keen made his dramatic intervention.
Henriques was thrilled Australia had managed to launch their bid for a
third World Cup in such empathic style. "It was the perfect start for us,"
he told Cricinfo. "We struggled a bit in the practice games trying to find
our feet but Coops [Tom Cooper] led from the front today and played a
great knock."
Australia suffered their own early wobble with the bat after South Africa
had chosen to field, with the surface looking nearly as green as the square
and reminding Matthew Mott, the Australian assistant coach, of the Gabba
in Brisbane. Chris Alexander struck twice in his third over as Australia
slipped to 4 for 2 - but that was as good as it got.
Whereas Australia had the attack to keep on striking, South Africa's was
on the lightweight side once Alexander had been seen off. Cooper and
Henriques settled the innings with a sensible stand, ensuring no further
wickets were lost while the ball was hard.
Henriques added that at no stage did Australia panic: "I've played
on worse looking pitches out here but they all end up playing fairly
well," he said. "It helped that they had no real tall fast bowlers who could have got
a bit more out of it. Our first four bowlers are all over 6'2'' and hit
the deck pretty hard and there were good conditions for us today."
When the sun had got to work on the pitch it quickly became more
comfortable for the batsmen and Australia cut loose as the plethora of
spinners were introduced. Henriques launched two consecutive maximums off
das Neves to get the ball rolling, before Aaron Finch made the most of
of the solid foundations.
He joined Cooper in the match-turning stand of 120, with the two batsmen
offering contrasting styles. Cooper generally preferred to keep the ball
along the ground while Finch frequented the aerial route; his fifth six
brought up a belligerent half-century off 65 balls. Cooper, who had
watchfully negotiated the new ball, reached his century from 138 balls - a
knock that was the perfect example of how to pace and anchor a one-day
innings.
Though Cooper and Finch departed in quick succession, that left the stage
free for David Warner to launch a 50-ball 54, powering Australia past 300.
South Africa ought to have learned from Cooper's method, but the weight of
the huge total was too much for them. Australia have laid down an
impressive marker for the tournament.
Andrew McGlashan is editorial assistant of Cricinfo