How's that for openers? Shane whacks Poms as ton seals stunning run chase

A STUNNING career-high 161 not out from Shane Watson has propelled Australia to a record run chase at the MCG to open the one-day series.

Chasing England's 294, Watson's chanceless milestone - it made him only the sixth Australian to score 150 or better in an ODI - was crucial in the home side progressing well beyond 250, to the point it needed 39 from the last five overs.

Watson outscored everyone but Mike Hussey in the Ashes, and in last week's Twenty20 matches terrorised England's new-ball bowlers but could not stay around long enough to produce a substantial innings. As the game reached its climax, the right-hander's exhaustion was obvious but it did not stop him contributing.
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The game shifted sharply in Australia's favour when Watson and new partner Cameron White clubbed 11 runs off the 46th over and 13 off the 47th, reducing the target to 15 from the last three.

Requiring four runs from the last over, Watson needed only one ball to seal victory, blasting Ajmal Shahzad over the long-on boundary for the fourth six of his 150-ball innings.

White's 25 off 23 was valuable but almost all the plaudits for Australia's six-wicket win had to go to Watson.

Confirmation that England's appetite for victory was as strong as ever came in their decision to axe popular but out-of-form veteran Paul Collingwood to ensure Kevin Pietersen's return did not occur at the expense of Jonathan Trott or Ian Bell.

After winning the toss and batting, England's batsmen were given four lives within the first 16 overs, two of them missed stumpings by Haddin. The wicketkeeper's nightmare with the gloves was cemented later in the innings when he spared top-scorer Pietersen on 37.

Poor starts with the ball from Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson were crucial in allowing England to reach 100 in just the 14th over. The main factor that restricted the scoring thereafter was the dismissal of Strauss for 63 off just 65 balls.

Pietersen threatened to take the game completely away from Australia but his departure in the 44th over for 78 - courtesy of an audacious kick on to the stumps by Johnson when chasing a risky single - put paid to the chances of England posting a score well above 300.

Amid the clamour for an injection of young players into the Australian team after its poor summer, the performance of a returning veteran argued the contrary.

While one-day team regulars Johnson and Bollinger struggled to contain England's batsmen, Brett Lee complemented his surprisingly sharp pace with accuracy. He deserved more than the two wickets he got but by conceding fewer than five runs per over he had definitely pulled his weight.

Australia began its chase with a required run-rate nudging six an over even before its innings began.

A few barren early overs would have seen that rate balloon but Watson prevented this by scoring a boundary off each of the opening five overs. The threat of Watson was deemed by visiting captain Andrew Strauss to be so severe that he declined to immediately take the bowling powerplay.

The only bowlers who looked capable of curbing's Watson's strokeplay were the spinners, Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann. Watson was part of two century partnerships and did the lion's share of scoring in both of them.

Opener Brad Haddin could be excused for only contributing 39 runs in the 110-run opening stand as he faced only 40 per cent of the deliveries. In Clarke's case, however, the share of deliveries between he and Watson was even but the spread of scoring was anything but.