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England narrowly avoided embarrassment against the unfancied Netherlands in their opening World Cup game in Nagpur with a six-wicket win.

A bowling and fielding performance which descended into farce coupled with a superb century from Ryan ten Doeschate left England chasing a difficult target of 293 runs to secure victory.

Opening pair Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen put on a century partnership as they set about the total, and though wickets fell at inopportune times, England eked out a victory in the penultimate over.

The batsmen were given a task far bigger than they would have expected on a lifeless pitch after the Dutch had won the toss and elected to bowl.

A confident opening from Dutch duo Alexei Kervezee and Wesley Barresi got the Dutch off to a bright start, with Barresi crashing six boundaries in a 25-ball 29.

When the duo fell - Kervezee to a looped catch to wicketkeeper Matt Prior and Barresi to a sharp stumping as England introduced the spin of Graeme Swann - Tom Cooper and Ten Doeschate set about forming an excellent partnership.

Cooper anchored as England took pace off the ball, with none of their pacemen proving particularly effective.

Ten Doeschate, meanwhile, settled into excellent rhythm, bringing up his half-century after a getting a life when an extraordinary mix-up between Pietersen and James Anderson saw neither fielder try to catch an eminently reachable shot off Swann's bowling.

Cooper fell just short of his fifty, but Ten Doeschate persevered and plundered runs as the quicks bowled too short.

Inventive cameos from Tom de Grooth and Peter Borren gave the Netherlands innings renewed momentum as Ten Doeschate blazed his way to an impressive ton.

England's fielding meanwhile, fell apart, with the worst display for some months including simple chances dropped by the likes of Swann, and a farcical no-ball denying Stuart Broad the wicket of Borren as it transpired that England did not have three fielders in the infield, as the laws of the game required.

A total of 292 for the loss of six wickets was by some way the Netherlands' best display against an established cricketing nation at the 50-over World Cup, and made for a tricky chase.

Pietersen and Strauss made a bright reply, but Pietersen, who was tackling the role of opener in one-day internationals for the first time, found himself bogged down all of a sudden against the medium-pace attack and eventually pushed a simple catch to Borren off the bowling of left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar.

Jonathan Trott batted patiently with Strauss, and again with Ian Bell as the captain fell to a pull for an 83-ball 88.

But Trott and then Bell succumbed in the last 10 overs to Ten Doeschate - who backed up his innings with two wickets for 47 runs with the ball - to set up a tense finale.

Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara started slowly, but their class told as the game entered its final stages, and Bopara punished Bernard Loots in the penultimate over with 16 runs from four balls to take England to victory.

There was relief all-round to have avoided another upset at the hands of the side who defeated them at Lord's in the 2009 World Twenty20 at Lord's, but plenty to address after a performance which leaves them ill-prepared for facing tournament favourites India on Sunday.

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.

Sri Lanka coasted to an enormous 210-run victory in their opening World Cup game against Canada in front of home fans in Hambantota.

The hosts won the toss and opted to bat on a cloudy afternoon.

Canada's determined start was picked apart piece-by-piece by an outstanding partnership of 179 between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene, and the minnows were left to chase Sri Lanka's score of 332 for seven wickets from their 50 overs.

They were never in contention to do so, sliding to 12 for three after just four overs, and despite a little fight from Rizwan Cheema, they eventually limped to 122 all out.

Having witnessed the earlier capitulation of Kenya in their game against New Zealand in the same group, Canada would have been determined to give a better account of themselves.

They began well enough, with the medium pace of Khurram Chohan and Henry Osinde stopping the Sri Lankans from racing away.

Osinde pulled up early in his third over, ending his spell in the field, but Harvir Baidwan continued the good work.

And a clumsy miscommunication saw Upul Tharanga lose his wicket through a run-out.

Sangakkara started shakily and Tillakaratne Dilshan holed out the moment he had reached his half-century.

But those wickets brought Jayawardene to the crease, and in partnership with Sangakkara the right-hander took the game away from Canada.

Jayawardene played few of the elegant shots he is best known for, dispatching the ball to midwicket to give the co-hosts momentum, and eventually going on to reach his 100 from a mere 80 balls.

The ball after he had reached the quickest World Cup century by a Sri Lankan batsman, a tired Jayawardene offered a simple catch to John Davison's off-spin, joining his captain in the hutch after he had fell shortly before for 92.

Some deft hitting from Angelo Mathews and Thilan Samaraweera kept Sri Lanka in control, though, and set a formidable target.

Opening bowlers Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera were on target immediately - the latter removing Davison with his very first delivery, and the former then prising out Sri Lankan-born Ruvindu Gunasekera, before Perera's second wicket, trapping Zubin Surkari in front of the stumps, left Canada reeling.

Jimmy Hansra and Ashish Bagai embarked on a ponderous partnership as Sangakkara deployed his spinners to ensure that, with reports of rain on the way, the minimum 20 overs were bowled and Sri Lanka were assured of victory.

Hansra eventually fell after a 49-ball purgatory worth nine runs, and wickets continued to fall, with Samaraweera and Perera striking.

Rizwan Cheema provided Canada's only meaningful resistance, twice launching an off-colour Muttiah Muralitharan into the stands in a punchy innings of 37 from 35 deliveries.

But Kulasekara picked up more wickets, and Muralitharan finally struck to mop up the tail with spinner Ajantha Mendis to seal an enormous win.

There will be stiffer tests for Sri Lanka, who are amongst the favourites in the competition, but they, like fellow hosts India did yesterday, looked assured in getting a first win on the board.

New Zealand thumped Kenya by 10 wickets in a lop-sided Group A match of the World Cup on Sunday that appears to justify bids to trim the 2015 edition of the showpiece event by leaving out the whipping boys.

The sparse crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai witnessed a total mis-match as New Zealand unleashed their pace trio of Tim Southee (3-13), Hamish Bennett (4-16) and Jacob Oram (3-2) to bundle out Kenya for a meagre 69 in 23.5 overs and returned to overwhelm the target in eight overs.

There was not much room for batting practice chasing a 70-run victory target but openers Martin Guptill (39) and Brendon McCullum (26) stroked some easy boundaries before completing the chase.

The outcome strengthens the International Cricket Council's bid for a 10-team World Cup in 2015, accommodating the weaker teams in the Twenty20 World Cup instead.

"I don't think we expected it to be that easy," New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said after a perfect start to the tournament suggested the team was determined to put behind a poor build-up that included whitewash against Bangladesh.

"To bowl well and allow the batsmen such a small chase is always pleasing. It was a fantastic efforts by the bowlers."

Kenya captain Jimmy Kamande won the toss and opted to bat first before a horror story unfolded in front of his eyes.

Two days before he turns 24, Bennett ran through the top order as Kenya's top half was back in the hut even before the team total had reached the 50-run mark.

Openers Alex Obanda (6) and Seren Waters (16) began cautiously even if run-rate was nothing to write home about.

Southee trapped Obanda in the seventh over before Bennett suddenly took fancy to beating the blade and hitting the pad of the flummoxed Kenyan batsmen, claiming three of his four victims lbw and he expects his performance will help his case for regular selections.

"Whenever there is a chance, you got to try and take it. I got a good result and hopefully I can keep pushing for my selection," said Bennett, who picked the man of the match award in his World Cup debut.

Southee dismissed Nehemiah Odhiambo and Shem Ngoche off the last two deliveries of his sixth over but could not get a chance to complete his hat-trick as Oram removed Elijah Otieno for a duck to drop the curtains on the Kenyan innings.

Oram flashed a shy smile as he waved apologetically to Southee.

Only three Kenyan batsmen - Waters, Collins Obuya (14) and Rakep Patel (15 not out) - managed double digit scores as Kenya were bundled out for the lowest score recorded at the Chidambaram Stadium. It was also the fifth lowest total in ODIs.

"We were nervous today but the New Zealand bowlers really bowled well," Kamande said, denying the team was under pressure to perform to justify their presence in one day cricket's biggest stage.

"There was no such pressure. It's up to ICC to decide whether they want 10, five or 50 teams in the World Cup but the thing is the more we get to play against these (Yest) teams, the better we become."

New Zealand missed Kyle Mills' service through a sore back but off-spinner Nathan McCullum recovered from fever to open the attack, a move that is getting increasingly popular among the visiting teams.