Online Assistant

Australia overcame a slow start to beat Zimbabwe by 91 runs in their opening World Cup clash in Ahmedabad.

Having chosen to bat, the combination of nagging spin from Zimbabwe and cautious batting from the world champions led to what looked like a below-par total of 262 for six wickets.

But the Zimbabwean top order was outfoxed by Australia's pace attack, and having slumped to 44 for the loss of four wickets they limped along in reply until they were finally bowled out for 171.

"A good start for us today," said Ricky Ponting after he had led his side to a 24th consecutive World Cup victory as captain.

"I thought Zimbabwe bowled and fielded particularly well - we just kept ourselves in the game, got ourselves a decent total."

Australia were curiously subdued, with opening duo Shane Watson and Brad Haddin taking no risks during the powerplay overs.

Zimbabwe, opening with Christopher Mpofu and slow left-armer Raymond Price - rated as the fourth-best bowler in ODIs according to the official rankings - restricted the pair to a meagre 28 runs from the first 10 overs.

Mpofu was carted for 17 in the 15th over as the pair threatened to break the shackles, but skipper Elton Chigumbura turned back to spin, and the combination of off-spin from Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer's leg-breaks restored control.

The first wicket fell, too, as Haddin departed for a ponderous 29 from 66 deliveries after a successful referral.

Ponting, however, said that keeping wickets was an orchestrated plan.

"I think [batting this way] will be our philosophy throughout the tournament," he confirmed.

"We could have gone for more runs, but there wasn't much bounce and we kept wickets in hand and gave ourselves a chance to get a total."

Ponting himself looked busier on his arrival to the wicket and Watson picked up his strike rate as Australia moved up a gear, but Cremer trapped Watson leg-before - again only awarded after Zimbabwe opted to review the decision - and Ponting departed for the 30th run-out of his ODI career when Mpofu's bullet-throw from the deep caught the unlucky captain short of his ground.

With two new men at the crease Australia had to build again, and Michael Clarke got the runs ticking in partnership with a less fluent Cameron White.

White, pushing for boundaries, was clean-bowled by Mpofu, but that brought in David Hussey and Steven Smith for cameos, while Clarke pushed on to a punchy half-century.

Zimbabwe's opening pair both played a couple of scintillating shots - Charles Coventry's flat six over point being a particular highlight - but after he skied a hook which Brett Lee caught off his own bowling the wickets began to tumble.

The pace triumvirate of Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson all looked accurate in tricky conditions, and all three took wickets as the game slipped away from Zimbabwe.

There were moments of resistance from Zimbabwe such as Sean Williams bludgeoning Jason Krejza for a slog-swept six, but the wickets fell at regular intervals.

Krejza, Australia's leading spinner at the World Cup in the absence of Nathan Hauritz, removed captain Elton Chigumbura and Regis Chakabva as he settled into rhythm.

Cremer impressed with a top-score of 37 in partnership with Utseya, but when he fell to Johnson in the left-armer's second spell, the writing was on the wall.

And Johnson then removed Mpofu to finish with impressive figures of 9.2-2-19-4.

It was a curious performance from Australia and a spirited one from Zimbabwe, but class told and Australia eventually made the scoreline a convincing one ahead of their next match - a fascinating trans-Tasman tussle with New Zealand in Nagpur on February 25.