Australia vs England – one of the biggest clashes in cricket takes centre-stage as the ICC World Cup 2015 action in Australia begins in earnest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Valentine's Day.
England go into this match as the clear underdogs, having been on the receiving end of quite a few Australia defeats in the recent past. The latest one came in the final of the tri-series, when Australia, led by, who else but Mitchell Johnson blew the England batting apart to cruise to the title.
Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said "England don't know how to beat" them, and looking at the matches in the last 18 months, he is not too wide off the mark.
If Eoin Morgan and his side are to get off to a winning start at this World Cup, though, they will need to break that hoodoo that Australia seem to have on them.
"This time there's a real difference in the belief that we've got," said England's key fast bowler James Anderson on Friday.
"There's a real, genuine belief that we can surprise a few teams, we feel confident enough that we can beat anyone if we have our day.
"In a tournament like this it's all about qualifying for the quarterfinals and then you are three matches away from winning the World Cup.
"We're really keen on getting a good start, getting off to a positive start tomorrow, and hopefully everything else will take care of itself after that if we can get a good start."
England take on Australia in the greatest ground down under – the MCG – with a record 90,00-0dd crowd expected to throng in. Having experienced such atmospheres in Ashes matches in the past, England will be familiar in how to deal with it, but whether they can actually do it, only time will tell.
"I've played here a few times before and the atmosphere that 90-odd thousand people can create, it's something that as a cricketer you want to play in front of crowds like this, you want to play in front of big crowds and show off your talent in front of them, and hopefully we can do that tomorrow," added Anderson.
"We're guessing that the majority will be against us, so that's something that we're prepared for. Again, we've played in a Test match in front of 90-odd thousand on Boxing Day and if we start well we know that we can quieten most of them."
Quietening the crowd when Mitchell Johnson is steaming in and causing all sorts of problems to the English batsmen will be next to impossible; therefore it will be up to the openers – Ian Bell and Moeen Ali -- to ensure wickets don't tumble down quicker than nine pins come Saturday.
For Australia, one of the heavy favourites to lift the World Cup, it will be all about doing exactly what they have been doing over the past few months – winning matches, and winning matches at a canter.
England have quickly become their favourite opponents, and if the likes of David Warner, Steven Smith and Shane Watson catch fire with the bat at the MCG, then it could be curtains for England in this match.
Where to Watch Live
Get the Live Blog for the game HERE
The World Cup match is scheduled for a 2.30 pm local time (9 am IST, 3.30 am GMT, 10.30 pm ET) start with live coverage in India on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD3. Viewers in India can also catch the match via free live streaming online on Starsports.com or by paying a nominal fee via the Starsports Live Pro option.
Watch Australia take on England in the World Cup opener live in Australia on Channel 9 and Fox Sports, while the option to live stream the match is on Cricket Australia Live or the Cricket Australia Live App or Foxtel. Audience in the UK can catch England take on Australia live on Sky Sports 2 or via live streaming on Sky Go or Watch Sky Sports.
The big game can be watched live by audience living in the US on ESPN, while the game can also be live streamed on Watch ESPN. Audience in the Middle East and North Africa can catch the World Cup ODI match live on OSN with the live stream option on OSN Play.
