Cricket World Champs in Excellent Form

MELBOURNE - It doesn't make up for the loss of the Ashes, but victory was sweeter than usual for Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

Australia, underdogs in a series for the first time in recent memory, thrashed the World XI by 93 runs in the opening Super Series match at Telstra Dome tonight.

The Australians made 8-255 with Simon Katich, promoted to open in place of Matthew Hayden, top-scoring with 58.

The World XI was then hustled out for 162 with more than eight overs to spare.

"We've been looking forward to this for a while and it's very satisfying," Ponting said.

"We've all worn a bit and copped a bit since we've been back about the way the team performed in England.

"Some was fair and some was a little bit unfair.

"This is the first chance we've had to get back out and show everybody just how good a cricket team we are.

"We came up against a very good team here tonight and we outplayed them comprehensively."

Eight of the World XI failed to reach double figures and only Kumar Sangakkara (64) and Andrew Flintoff (38) offered any resistance.

South African Shaun Pollock, who captained the World XI, was at a loss to explain how such a powerful batting side had folded so meekly.

"It was disappointing. There were quite a few soft dismissals," he said.

Also disappointing was the crowd of 18,435, leaving large tracts of empty seats in the indoor arena.

The second match of the series will be played on Friday night and the third on Sunday before the teams travel to Sydney for a six-day Super Test starting next Friday.