Cricket World Cup 2015 Australia v England
TV screenshot Channel 9 sport

The Cricket World Cup 2015 opened on Saturday 14 February with overwhelming victories for host countries New Zealand over Sri Lanka and Australia over traditional rival England.

New Zealand thrash Sri Lanka by 98 runs in World Cup opener http://t.co/HqUlvvnyDC #NZvsSL #cwc15

— dna (@dna) February 14, 2015

Match#2: #AUSvENG #Australia outplays #England in #CWC15 opening day; wins by 111 runs pic.twitter.com/3tPL8R4kWn

— Bangladesh Fan (@BAN_FAN) February 14, 2015

Image courtesy ICC Cricket World Cup Facebook page

Cricket is a very Twitter friendly game as there are lots of pauses in the action: between overs, dismissal of batsmen, drinks breaks, to name just a few. If you’re new to the sport, try the Beginners Guide.

There are many international formats including: Test matches of five days duration; ODIs (one day internationals of 50 overs per side) and Twenty20. The World Cup competition uses ODIs. For a full list of teams and fixtures, please see here.

Two of the popular hashtags for Australia’s first game were: #CWC15 and #AUSvENG. The first one could be confusing as the timing of the two games overlapped, so your social media sleuth followed the second tag for most of that game.

The thousands of tweets about the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) match fell into a number of clear categories. The majority were descriptions of the action and scores, such as those above. The next most common involved either triumph or disaster. A recurring theme amongst England supporters was the sorry state of their team and their performance:

Getting up early to watch England capitulate in various corners of the world has been a ritual of mine for 20+ years now. #AUSvENG #CWC15

— J Khyber, M.D. (@JKhyberMD) February 14, 2015

I had this horrible nightmare last night. I dreamt that Australia got 342 and we were 94-6 …….. Oh wait !!! #AusvEng

— Mark James (@markjamestattoo) February 14, 2015

Australia are showing that they're in a different league to England. #AusvEng #CWC15

— Simon Emmett (@simonemmett) February 14, 2015

Even the Irish and the Welsh were joining in. Irish cricketer Patrick McDonnell observed:

Months of one day cricket to prepare and this is the best death bowling plan they could come up with #joke #AUSvENG #CWC15

— Patrick McDonnell (@PatrickMcD46) February 14, 2015

‘Right arm over the wicket satirer’ Welshman Matt Owen lamented:

I Tweeted a satire the other day about Australia having scored 350-odd and England being 120-8 in reply. I'm not proud of this.

— Matt Owen (@MJowen174) February 14, 2015

Aussie supporters revelled in their team’s dominance:

What an awesome crowd ! Golden Delight – Go Australia #GoGold ! #cwc15 #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/AyaPb1IBBd

— Ash (@Tenash921) February 14, 2015

“england won the toss and elected to lose”- d cruse (2015) #AUSvENG

— Tim Cruse (@crusetime) February 14, 2015

Doubtful there is a more spectacular sight in world sport than a packed @MCG on a Beautiful #Melbourne Day and the Aussies smashin it #CWC15

— BluesAndRootsRadioOz (@BluesAndRootsOz) February 14, 2015

However, some were unforgiving when it came to individual players:

Watson seriously? Id prefer a dog with a frisbee in its mouth #AUSvENG

— Wobbly Wombat (@AusWomby) February 14, 2015

Cricket commentators and celebrities were frequent targets, especially Oz cricket icon Shane Warne and the Mail Online’s Piers Morgan:

Warne jokes about being a drug cheat. A+ commentary #AUSvENG #CWC15

— Lisa Maurice (@leaseM_87) February 14, 2015

@piersmorgan GET OUT OF BED!! You need to watch this and rediscover your sense of humour!! #hilariouslybad #AUSvENG

— Ken Miller (@Baildonhome) February 14, 2015

A meme soon emerged comparing England to the minor cricket nations:

I reckon Afghanistan are gonna score more runs against the Aussies than England #AUSvENG #WorldCup

— Anthony Kernich (@AntJKernich) February 14, 2015

Australia's performance tonight is going to renew the debate about whether minnow nations should play in the World Cup. #AUSvENG #CWC15

— Bomb Doe (@BombDoe) February 14, 2015

There were many other attempts at wit or humour, including Matt Owen again:

England… Go home, you're drunk #CWC15 #AusVsEng

— M. Friedman Quotes (@MiltonFriedmanS) February 14, 2015

England off to a flyer, 2 off 10 balls #CWC15 #AUSvENG

— Matt (@Mattys123) February 14, 2015

Drinks break. Hard liquor is needed #AUSvENG

— Matt Owen (@MJowen174) February 14, 2015

Judging by some of the reaction it's lucky we don't live in a totalitarian state. They'd all be up against the wall #AUSvENG

— Alec Swann (@RonSwann76) February 14, 2015

There were other more serious political connections. Protesters gained some support online:

Great work at the #AUSvENG #CWC15 tonight, #refugee activists bringing Australia's abysmal asylum seeker policy to the world's attention!

— Kat Moore (@macavitykat) February 14, 2015

There were the predictable comparisons with the government:

England are more of a rabble than tony abbots prime minister campaign #AUSvENG #WorldCup #CWC15

— Russell Eden (@Russ2190) February 14, 2015

Finally, the Valentine’s Day meme popped up numerous times, culminating in the inevitable cliché:

St Valentines Day Massacre #AusvEng

— Zag Neek (@zagneek) February 14, 2015