CRICKET/One-day international: Australia put their Ashes woes behind them and one over on England pair Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen as they opened the Super Series with a convincing 93-run victory over the ICC World XI.
Although under scrutiny from their own public following the 2-1 Test series defeat to England, only 18,400 turned up at the Telstra Dome to see the world champions take on the cream of the planet in the first of three indoor one-day matches.
Their response was clinical, posting a respectable 255 for eight despite a mid-innings slump and exploiting the soft spine of the World team with their aggressive bowling.
The only sour note for Ricky Ponting's side was their catching early in the representative side's chase as two straightforward chances went begging.
That they were not made to pay for them was due to a lacklustre approach by their opponents, with only two of the top nine recording double figures.
After Ponting won the toss Australia's new-look opening pairing of Adam Gilchrist and Simon Katich laid the perfect platform, riding their luck along the way to share an 80-run stand.
England hero Flintoff suffered the most, his nine wicketless overs costing 66 runs - a far cry from three and a half weeks ago when he dismantled the Australian batting on a heady Sunday morning at the Oval.
Performances like that five-wicket haul in the most exciting Test series for a quarter of a century left their mark on the other side of the world and his introduction into the attack for the eighth over of the match was greeted with huge cheers.
Twice in his first over he beat the outside edge of Adam Gilchrist's bat to provide a flashback from the summer.
But if he proved Australia's nemesis then, the pendulum swung significantly yesterday as Katich flashed an edge wide of wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara for four before another moment of fortune in the same over, the 12th of the innings, as a hook from a Flintoff bouncer travelled straight to fine leg only for umpire Simon Taufel to call no-ball.
The initial breakthrough arrived without any addition to the score, however, as Jacques Kallis nipped one back to bowl Gilchrist through the gate.
Having played second fiddle to the adventurous Gilchrist, Katich upped the ante, twice thrashing Flintoff to the boundary in an over including an authoritative pulled six from captain Ponting in an over which cost 15.
But a typically committed contribution from Brett Lee, whose unbeaten 26 came from only 17 balls and included a towering six over midwicket off Shoaib Akhtar, inflated the score in the final overs. When left-armer Nathan Bracken claimed the prize scalp of West Indies great Brian Lara, Australia were on top despite flooring two catches.
Australia, down at heel in recent weeks, only need to win one of the two remaining matches to claim the one-day series.
Australia beat ICC World XI by 93 runs
AUSTRALIA
A C Gilchrist b Kallis 45
S M Katich c & b Muralitharan 58
R T Ponting c Lara b Pollock 23
D R Martyn c Vettori b Muralitharan 0
A Symonds c Flintoff b Vettori 36
M J Clarke c & b Vettori 6
M E K Hussey c Pietersen b Vettori 32
S R Watson c Lara b Vettori 8
B Lee not out 26 N W Bracken not out 2
Extras b2 lb6 w6 nb5 pens 0 19
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Total 8 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) 255
Fall: 1-80 2-128 3-128 4-142 5-154 6-206 7-223 8-231 Did Not Bat: G D McGrath.
Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 9 1 49 0 Pollock 8 1 32 1 Flintoff 9 1 66 0 Kallis 4 0 26 1 Muralitharan 10 0 41 2 Vettori 10 1 33 4.
Afridi replaced Muralitharan after 43 overs.
ICC WORLD XI
K C Sangakkara c Ponting b Watson 64
V Sehwag c Hussey b McGrath 6
J H Kallis lbw b McGrath 8
B C Lara c Symonds b Bracken 0
R Dravid c Ponting b Lee 4
K P Pietersen lbw b Watson 2
A Flintoff c McGrath b Watson 38
Shahid Afridi lbw b Symonds 2
S M Pollock run out 5
D L Vettori c Ponting b Lee 15
Shoaib Akhtar not out 10
Extras lb1 w6 nb1 pens 0 8
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Total (41.3 overs) 162
Fall: 1-18 2-45 3-50 4-75 5-82 6-101 7-104 8-118 9-150
Bowling: Lee 7.3 2 31 2 McGrath 7 1 13 2 Bracken 8 0 36 1 Watson 10 0 43 3 Symonds 9 0 38 1
White replaced Martyn after 16 overs.
