Poised on the brink of an excellent maiden century in their first Cricket World Cup match against Australia, England batsman James Taylor suffered an agonising end to his innings

Steven Finn became the first England bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick with wickets off the final three balls of Australia's 342-9.

'The sense of excitement that used to build up days in advance, is still very much a part of my DNA today,' says former India paceman Javagal Srinath

While chasing Australia's gigantic total of 342 runs, England struggle to reach the 200-mark. Lower-order batsman James Taylor helms the English innings with his unbeaten 98 runs while his co-players keep returning to the pavilion. By sheer misfortune, he misses his maiden ODI century and England face a defeat of 111 runs

Of the six previous meetings against England in World Cup competition, Australia has won four, including the final in 1987. But as it heads into what is the opening game for both teams, in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it’s one of those losses that will make Australia wary given its status as pre-tournament favourite.

The opening ceremony for the ICC World Cup 2015 is held at Christchurch and Melbourne. Both the cities were draped and decorated in festive colours as the biggest show for cricket began with a spectacular show of fireworks and colourful flags.