Meet the Australian Team for the ICC World Cup 2015

This is second part of the series Meet the world cup teams. In this post we are going to take a look at the team of the hosting nation Australia. Australia is the co host with New Zealand and the team looks in the fine touch to lift the world cup title for the record fifth time. We'll get to see this as the tournament progresses. However lets take a look at the Australian 15 men squad for the world cup.

The team is lead by Michael Clark and George Bailey will be his deputy. The complete team members lists is as follows:

1. Michael Clarke
2. George Bailey
3. Pat Cummins
4. Xavier Doherty
5. James Faulkner
6. Aaron Finch
7. Brad Haddin
8. Josh Hazlewood
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Mitchell Marsh
11. Glenn Maxwell
12. Steven Smith
13. Mitchell Starc
14. David Warner
15. Shane Watson

The Australian team didn't have a very good 2014 as per the standards of the team that have won 3 world cup tournaments successfully. But it seems that they have got the midas touch back again. They beat India 3-0 in test and then are playing brilliantly in the currently Triangular series that also features England. The bowling is strong with the presence of  Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Xavier Doherty and Pat Cummins. The batting line up is quiet balanced with David Warner, George Bailey, Michael Clarke, James Faulkner and  Aaron Finch. The beat part of this team is presence on all rounders and big hitter that can turn the match at any moment. Players like Maxwell are already popular among fans from not only Australia but other nations as well.

World Cup Matches Schedule for Australian Cricket Team: Australia will play their first match  on the day one of the world cup and I hope they will play on the last day of the world cup as well. It would be an disappointment if the team doesn't play in the finals with the current combination and the form of the players.

Here is the match schedule for Australian team:

•  Australia v England - Sat Feb 14 at Melbourne Cricket Ground
• Australia v Bangladesh - Sat Feb 21 at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
• New Zealand v Australia - Sat Feb 28 at Eden Park, Auckland
• Australia v Afghanistan - Wed Mar 4  at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth
• Australia v Sri Lanka - Sun Mar 8 at Sydney Cricket Ground
• Australia v Scotland - Sat Mar 14 at Bellerive Oval, Hobart

To know the full list of world cup matches please check this post. 

ICC World Cup Opening Match Today - Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

Match update: 12:52 pm IST: The opening match of the ICC Cricket world cup 2015 is won by the hosts New Zealand, thanks to some good hitting by man of the match - Corey Anderson. Its always good to start a tournament like world cup winning the first match.  Here is the finals scorebaod (Courtsey - Espncricinfo)

	New Zealand innings (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	MJ Guptill	c †Sangakkara b Lakmal	49	94	62	5	0	79.03
	BB McCullum*	c Mendis b Herath	65	68	49	10	1	132.65
	KS Williamson	c Karunaratne b Mendis	57	70	65	5	1	87.69
	LRPL Taylor	st †Sangakkara b Mendis	14	49	28	0	0	50.00
	GD Elliott	c Thirimanne b Lakmal	29	53	34	2	0	85.29
	CJ Anderson	c Lakmal b Kulasekara	75	77	46	8	2	163.04
	L Ronchi†	not out	29	29	19	4	0	152.63
	Extras	(lb 2, w 8, nb 3)	13
	Total	(6 wickets; 50 overs)	331	(6.62 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	0s	4s	6s
	KMDN Kulasekara	8	0	78	1	9.75	16	9	2	(3w)
	SL Malinga	10	0	84	0	8.40	19	8	1	(3nb, 3w)
	AD Mathews	6	0	28	0	4.66	20	4	0
	HMRKB Herath	9	0	37	1	4.11	30	3	0	(1w)
	TM Dilshan	5	0	35	0	7.00	11	2	1	(1w)
	RAS Lakmal	10	0	62	2	6.20	28	8	0
	BMAJ Mendis	2	0	5	2	2.50	7	0	0

	Sri Lanka innings (target: 332 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	HDRL Thirimanne	b Boult	65	90	60	8	0	108.33
	TM Dilshan	c & b Vettori	24	50	41	2	0	58.53
	KC Sangakkara†	lbw b Boult	39	48	38	5	0	102.63
	DPMD Jayawardene	c †Ronchi b Vettori	0	3	4	0	0	0.00
	FDM Karunaratne	b Milne	14	32	21	0	0	66.66
	AD Mathews*	c Vettori b Southee	46	80	52	5	0	88.46
	BMAJ Mendis	c †Ronchi b Milne	4	5	4	1	0	100.00
	KMDN Kulasekara	c Elliott b Anderson	10	32	21	1	0	47.61
	HMRKB Herath	c Milne b Anderson	13	41	19	2	0	68.42
	SL Malinga	c †Ronchi b Southee	0	4	1	0	0	0.00
	RAS Lakmal	not out	7	21	17	0	0	41.17
	Extras	(w 10, nb 1)	11
	Total	(all out; 46.1 overs)	233	(5.04 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ	0s	4s	6s
	TG Southee	10	1	43	2	4.30	37	5	0	(2w)
	TA Boult	10	0	64	2	6.40	27	9	0
	AF Milne	10	0	56	2	5.60	30	6	0	(1nb, 3w)
	DL Vettori	10	0	34	2	3.40	33	1	0	(2w)
	GD Elliott	2	0	11	0	5.50	4	1	0
	KS Williamson	1	0	7	0	7.00	0	0	0
	CJ Anderson	3.1	0	18	2	5.68	10	2	0	(3w)

Match update 10:53 pm IST: Sri Lankan team didn't have the much expected start of the match and the host New Zealand are looking to win the opening match of the world cup in next 45 minutes. There are 10 over left and Sri Lanka required more than 100 runs to win this match with only 3 wickets left. The Sri Lankan bowlers did a poor job and conceded more than 300 runs. Here is the details of the New Zealand innings.

	New Zealand innings (50 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	MJ Guptill	c †Sangakkara b Lakmal	49	62	5	0	79.03
	BB McCullum*	c Mendis b Herath	65	49	10	1	132.65
	KS Williamson	c Karunaratne b Mendis	57	65	5	1	87.69
	LRPL Taylor	st †Sangakkara b Mendis	14	28	0	0	50.00
	GD Elliott	c Thirimanne b Lakmal	29	34	2	0	85.29
	CJ Anderson	c Lakmal b Kulasekara	75	46	8	2	163.04
	L Ronchi†	not out	29	19	4	0	152.63
	Extras	(lb 2, w 8, nb 3)	13
	Total	(6 wickets; 50 overs)	331	(6.62 runs per over)

Hagley Oval cricket stadium at Christchurch  will host the opening match of the ICC cricket world cup 2015 on Feb 14 Indian time and Feb 13 New Zealand time. Match will be played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. For New Zealand its a home conditions advantage, however the Sri Lankan team has already spent some good time in New Zealand playing a test series so the team already has accumulated to the conditions here. You can watch the live socre of the match at the live scorebaord widget above. And in case you need a detailed ball by ball analysis please visit this post.

As far as world cup performance in concerned New Zealand has so far just made it once to semi finals as their best performance. Sri Lanka on the other hand has won the world cup once and they have featured in the final of last three ICC world cup tournaments. Thus the match is goind to be  a super entertainer.

Live Scoreboard world cup matches today

ICC cricket world cup 2015 matches live scoreboard, match preview and post match analysis can be found at this page. The live scoreboard of the current match and results of previous match are shown at the live cricket score board above. We at this blog will keep updating this pages will our comments, preview and analysis of the world cup matches.

Since the 15 member final squad for all the teams has not been disclosed yet. This is not the right time for us to start discussing the matches. However you can bookmark this page for access in the month of Feb when the world cup will begin. Take a look at the world cup fixtures here. Keep visiting!