Cut and thrust, brilliance and riposte: the Super Eights has, thus far, gotten off to an auspicious start - if, that is, you like good cricket without caring too much who plays it.

West Indies skipper Brian Lara won the toss, on a virgin pitch at the spanking new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in St John's, Antigua - a ground that, unusually in this day and age, boasts long boundaries -- and invited the Australians to have a go.

The brilliance began almost immediately. Lara put a man at a very short cover, right under Mathew Hayden's nose, to inhibit his driving on the rise; Darren Powell hit an immaculate line, and the powerful southpaw, fresh from rewriting history with the fastest century in World Cups, struggled through 18 deliveries before getting off the mark with a single.

Australia finished at 322 for six.

Photographs: Getty Images

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