England have won the toss and elected to bat first on a very dry MCG wicket. Looks like a glorious day in Melbourne with a huge crowd in. The pitch should be very good for batting with the ball coming on well and consistant bounce. Hopefully England can put up a good score to give themselves some chance of defending later tonight.

Teams

Australia

1.  Adam Gilchrist
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Michael Clarke
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Michael Hussey
7. Cameron White
8. Stuart Clark
9. Nathan Bracken
10. Mitchell Johnson
11. Glenn McGrath

England

1. Michael Vaughan
2. Andrew Strauss
3. Ian Bell
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. Paul Collingwood
7. Paul Nixon
8. Jamie Dalrymple
9. Jon Lewis
10. James Anderson
11. Monty Panesar

The Commonwealth Bank Series gets underway later today with the hosts Australia taking on England in the opening match from the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It would seem the Aussies are raging hot favourites to win not only this match, but the entire series. Given their recent whitewash in the Ashes series against England and New Zealand’s erratic performances against Sri Lanka, there are only two questions that need asking about this series. 1. Will Australia lose a game? 2. Who will they beat in the finals?

Today’s game will certainly answer some of the questions regarding England’s squad going into the World Cup later this year. Is Michael Vaughan recovered from his year long knee injury? And can the team regain any confidence following their dismal performance in the Ashes? On paper England have an excellent team with a formidable batting lineup including Kevin Pietersen who has the ability to turn a match around in a few overs. The bowling however is not so strong. Outsite of Monty Panesar and Andrew Flintoff the English attack won’t be striking fear into the hearts of their opponents.

Australia will be looking to blood some new players following the retirement of Shane Warne and the impending retirement of Glen McGrath. Their batting lineup remains formidable. Adam Gilchrist have a proven record as one of the most destructive opening batsmen in world cricket and is backed up by a very long lineup. Michael Clarke will be looking to move up the order to 4, allowing Michael Hussey to bat at 6. Hussey reminds me a lot of another Michael, Michael Bevan whose innings against New Zealand at the MCG in the VB series of 2002 is something I will never forget. Hussey has the ability to keep the score ticking over towards the death and the hitting skills to steer his side home when required.

I’m certainly looking forward to today’s game. I haven’t seen any good ODI’s this year. I’ve seen the rain shortened game from Christchurch, the disaster at Auckland and the pitter patter of rain from Hamilton. Bring on the big boys, bring on the games!

This is Sports After Dark, my new blog devoted to the upcoming year of sports. It’s a huge one this year with the Commonwealth Bank Series starting on Friday, the Super 14 next month and both the Cricket and Rugby World Cups later in the year. So I figured I’d start a new blog to bring all the news and opinions about all these events.

So stay tuned, the fun’s about it begin.