Shane Watson took three wickets and made a crucial run-out on Wednesday to help Australia to a 93-run win over the World XI and a 1-0 lead in the limited-overs Super Series.
Openers Simon Katich (58) and Adam Gilchrist (45) led the scoring as Australia made 255 for eight after winning the toss and batting first.
Despite a batting line-up stacked with stars, the World XI struggled against an Australian attack coming off an Ashes series loss and were bowled out for 162 in 41,3 overs.
Watson accounted for England Ashes stars Andrew Flintoff (38) and Kevin Pietersen (two), and leading scorer Kumar Sangakkara (64) of Sri Lanka.
He also ran out World XI captain Shaun Pollock (5) with a direct hit as he ran in from deep fine leg.
Earlier, the Australians raced to 128 for one before Ricky Ponting (23) was out to a rash shot off Pollock, triggering a slide as Australia lost 4-26 in 60 balls.
Spin bowlers Daniel Vettori (4-33) of New Zealand and Muttiah Muralitharan (2-41) of Sri Lanka combined to check the run rate before a late flourish by the Australia middle and lower order.
Australia’s pace spearhead Glenn McGrath was economical and effective early in the World XI innings, having freewheeling Virender Sehwag (6) caught by Michael Hussey and then trapping Jacques Kallis (8) lbw to collect 2-13 in his opening seven-over spell.
Nathan Bracken was unlucky not to claim his first wicket when Katich dropped Sangakkara on 31 in the 13th over.
But Bracken gladly sacrificed that wicket to remove Brian Lara two balls later, having the West Indies dangerman caught at cover by Andrew Symonds before he had scored.
The World XI didn’t recover from 50-3.
Watson had Pietersen — who scored 100 and was man of the match in the first Test against Australia at the Oval last month — adjudged lbw for two.
In his last over, Watson had Flintoff — voted player of the series in the 2-1 Ashes win over Australia — caught in the deep by McGrath.
At Flintoff’s dismissal, the World XI’s chase was all but over at 150-9.
Lee, who dismissed Rahul Dravid in the first over of his second spell, returned to have Vettori (15) caught by Ponting to finish off the World team with eight overs to spare. Lee returned 2-31.
A showcase of the world’s leading cricketers didn’t translate into a big crowd, with the start attracting less than 10 000 people. The official crowd at the end was 18 435, leaving more than 30 000 empty seats.
Number-one-ranked Australia and the World XI are playing three indoor, one-day matches this week at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium and a six-day Super Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting on October 14. — Sapa-AP