A double strike in the 140’s for Namibia saw Ricky Ponting fall caught at gully off Burger for two to bring Damien Martyn to the crease with Australia 146/4.

Burger finished his 10 over, right-arm medium, uninterrupted spell taking three for 39. An excellent spell considering he was bowling to potentially some of the best batsmen in the game. A day he will remember for quite a while.

The powerful hitting Andrew Symonds was soon into his stride. Striking the ball cleanly and with as much power as any, he was denied boundaries only by some good fielding. He did clear the ropes at wide mid wicket off Van Vuuren while Martyn was content on pushing into the gaps and picking up the ones and twos with some brilliant running between the wickets.

The 50-run partnership was shared between both batsmen with Symonds scoring 24 and Martyn 26, coming off 61 balls including four fours and one six.

The 200 came up in 234 balls which included 16 fours and four sixes.

The Symonds 50, after sweeping Deon Kotze for six, came off 56 balls and included two fours and two sixes. Having only batted once, scoring 143 not out against Pakistan, he was well on his way to another big score when some silly running had him well run out with both batsmen at the same end of the ground. A fast as they are between the wickets, the second run was never on. Symonds run out for 59 and Australia 230/5.

Martyn followed on 231 when he played all around a Bjorn Kotze delivery that nipped back into the top of the off stump. Almost unnoticeably Martyn, with his running between the wickets, had scored 35 which included two fours.

Many teams would dream of having the class of a Darren Lehmann and Brad Hogg coming in at number seven and eight. Together they took the total past the 250 (286 balls, 19 fours, five sixes) and then took Australia to 301/6 at the completion of the 50 overs. The final 50 runs of the innings coming off four overs.

Lehmann finishing with a six off the last ball of the innings was undefeated on 50 off 31 balls while Hogg added 19 off 14 balls.

Van Vuuren by far the most expensive Namibian bowler at 0/92 off 10 overs might easily have been replaced by Van Rooi who only bowled six overs returning 1/24. The top return for Namibia was Louis Burger at 3/39.

Not the slaughter that one has come to expect from the Australian openers with both Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist prepared to have a long hard look at Rudi van Vuuren and Burton van Rooi.

The third over saw Van Vuuren fire in two short leg side balls for Gilchrist to dispatch them aggressively to the boundary at long leg, but the batsman had his stumps disturbed by Van Rooi in the sixth over, bowled for 13 and Australia one down for 26.

Michael Bevan having spent very little time at the crease of late came in at number three to see Hayden repeat consecutive boundaries off Van Vuuren, a lofted square drive, and a pull to long leg.

The shot of the morning came from a Bevan cover drive that was classic and effortless in execution, yet raced past the cover fielders to the boundary.

The Namibian fielding was excellent, with all fielders throwing themselves around to save everything in their range. This helped in Namibia restricting the Australians to less than five runs a over.

In the fifteenth over Hayden took a quick run to mid on. Stephan Swanepoel racing in, fired on the dive at the stumps, missing by centimeters, but with Hayden diving and sliding into the crease they both ended up, lying on the ground face to face with big broad smiles on both faces. Testament to the good spirit the match was being played in.

Bevan had a bit of luck in the16th over when, on nine, he was dropped by Melt van Schoor, standing up to Louis Burger.

The following over saw Hayden straight drive Bjorn Kotze for a six and a four in consecutive balls to bring up the 50-run partnership off 65 balls of which the lefthander scored 44.

Hayden went to his fifty in the 19th over lofting towards long on for the milestone to come up in 54 balls including five fours and a six. The 100 also came up in the same over, off 124 balls, with Hayden starting to accelerate taking 12 runs off a Kotze over to get the run rate above five.

Bevan, after the glorious cover drive, found it difficult to beat the field and was eventually, on 17, deceived by a Burger slower ball. The leading edge return catch was gladly accepted by the bowler and Australia 104/2 after 20 overs.

Two more sixes and fours from Hayden saw the run rate climb dramatically before Burger struck again, bowling Hayden, playing across the line, for 88 off 73 balls (nine fours, three sixes) for Australia to go to 140/3.

After 25 overs Australia were 146/3 with Symonds on 10 and Ponting on two.

The North West Stadium in Potchefstroom is ablaze in sunshine with the temperatures expected to reach the high 30’s. The pitch looks like a belter and batting first will be either teams first priority.

Australia resting Jason Gillespie have included Andy Bichel to what already looks like a very powerful team and one that should take them to their fifth consecutive win in the tournament.

Namibia, at their first World Cup, is using the experience as major learning curve is not expected to challenge the cup holders. They could however not have chosen a better team to learn from.

Australia won their first toss of the tournament and elected to bat first.

Australia: Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath, and 12th man – Jimmy Maher.

Namibia: Stephan Swanepoel, Jan-Berry Burger, Morne Karg, Danie Keulder, Gavin Murgatroyd, Deon Kotze, Louis Burger, Melt van Schoor, Burton van Rooi, Bjorn Kotze, Rudie van Vuuren, and 12th man – Sarel Burger.