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Shane Watson top-scored with 79 in Australia's 6-262, a modest total which left the crowd of 9,569 sensing an upset was possible at Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium.
In reply the world No.11-ranked Africans were bowled out for 171 in 46.2 overs.
Pace trio Johnson, Shaun Tait (2-34) and Brett Lee (1-34) claimed five of the first six Zimbabwe wickets to fall.
Spinner Jason Krejza chipped in with 2-28 on a pitch that was a little slow and two-paced.
Australia's second group match is against New Zealand in Nagpur on Friday.
Lee seized on Zimbabwe opener Charles Coventry's battles against the short ball and had the opener caught and bowled on a pull shot for 14.
Tait's raw pace was then enough to bowl Brendan Taylor for 16.
Johnson removed Tatenda Taibu (7) caught at second slip and Craig Ervine (0) LBW.
Krejza, who won his place in the side ahead of all-rounder John Hastings, broke through when Elton Chigumbura (14) was caught behind to reduce the Africans to 5-88.
Sean Williams (28) edged to slip off Tait and Krejza soon trapped Regis Chakabva in front for six to take the sting out of the contest.
Tailender Graeme Cremer was the ninth man out for 37 and Johnson also claimed Chris Mpofu for two, both caught behind by Brad Haddin.
While Watson powered Australia's innings initially, Michael Clarke brought it home with an unbeaten 58 from 55 deliveries.
Australia pushed on strongly in the final five overs, which yielded 55 runs after they scored a painfully slow 28 off the first 10.
Haddin (29) was LBW to Prosper Utseya with the total on 61.
Watson was also LBW to Cremer, with both wickets coming after Zimbabwe called for video reviews.
In the over following Watson's dismissal, Mpofu's throw from the leg-side boundary to the bowler's end ran out Ricky Ponting for 28 to leave Australia 3-144.
Clarke masterminded Australia's late surge, partnered by Cameron White (22), David Hussey (14) and Steve Smith (11 from four balls).
Australia's batsmen found the spin of Ray Price (1-43), Utseya (1-43) and Cremer (1-41) difficult to counter, while paceman Mpofu took 2-58 off nine overs.
SCOREBOARD
Australia
S WATSON lbw Cremer 79
B HADDIN lbw Utseya 29
R PONTING run out (Mpofu) 28
CLARKE not out 58
C WHITE b Mpofu 22
D HUSSEY b Price 14
S SMITH c Chakabva b Mpofu 11
M JOHNSON not out 7
Sundries (7lb 7w) 14
Six wickets for 262
Fall: 61 (Haddin), 140 (Watson), 144 (Ponting), 207 (White), 241 (Hussey), 254 (Smith).
Bowling: C Mpofu 9-0-58-2 (2w), R Price 10-0-43-1 (1w), P Utseya 10-2-43-1 (2w), G Cremer 10-0-41-1 (1w), B Taylor 3-0-23-0, E Chigumbura 2-0-18-0 (1w), S Williams 6-0-29-0.
Batting time: 184 mins.
Overs: 50.
Zimbabwe
B TAYLOR b Tait 16
C COVENTRY c & b Lee 14
T TAIBU c Watson b Johnson 7
C ERVINE lbw Johnson 0
CHIGUMBURA c Haddin b Krejza 14
S WILLIAMS c Watson b Tait 28
R CHAKABVA lbw Krejza 6
P UTSEYA c Ponting b Hussey 24
G CREMER c Haddin b Johnson 37
R PRICE not out 5
C MPOFU c Haddin b Johnson 2
Sundries (4b 9lb 3w 2nb) 18
Total 171
Fall: 22 (Coventry), 40 (Taibu), 40 (Taylor), 44 (Ervine), 88 (Chigumbura), 96 (Williams), 104 (Chakabva), 153 (Utseya), 167 (Cremer), 171 (Mpofu).
Bowling: S Tait 9-1-34-2 (2w 1nb), B Lee 8-1-34-1 (1w 1nb), M Johnson 9.2-2-19-4, J Krejza 8-0-28-2, S Watson 3-0-7-0, S Smith 5-0-24-0, D Hussey 4-1-12-1.
Batting time: 184 mins.
Overs: 46.2.
Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SRI), Richard Kettleborough (ENG).
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL).
Third Umpire: Amiesh Saheba (IND).
Result: Australia won by 91 runs
Trust England to bring the tournament to life. By conceding 292 runs to the Netherlands – only Bermuda and Namibia have allowed the Dutch to score more – we finally had the whiff of a contest. England won by six wickets but the outcome was not settled until the penultimate over.
This was just what this World Cup needed, even if such a tight game gave the England camp far too many headaches. Their display in the latter stages of the Netherlands innings made them look like the associate team in this contest, while Ryan ten Doeschate struck a century from which any batsman from the major countries would have taken great pride.
Ten Doeschate hit 119 from 110 balls; he also took two relatively cheap wickets. He deserved to win the man of the match award; he also deserved to finish up on the winning side. It was to England's good fortune that the Essex player ended up with only one of these accolades.
England managed to squeeze home with eight balls to spare in the third-highest successful run-chase in World Cup history. Despite a century opening partnership with Andrew Strauss, rather than Kevin Pietersen, the dominant partner, victory was never assured until Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara combined at the end.
England still needed 52 off seven overs when they came together. In the end they skated home, with Bopara hitting the first six of the innings in the 49th over to allow his team-mates to heave a few mighty sighs of relief.
Jonathan Trott, who made 62 before falling to Ten Doeschate, said: "We got the result we wanted, but we need to be more consistent at putting in a good performance. It was one of those things that happens. We need to pull our socks up and get on with it."
The England captain agreed his team "had a shocker" in the field. "We got a lot of things wrong," Strauss admitted, "and we let them off the hook three or four times. We were very poor in the first 50 overs. We have to take that on the chin and learn quickly. We are disappointed with ourselves, but our batsmen got us out of a hole."
There was no other way for him to interpret England's efforts during the first half of the match. In the field they were progressively more and more awful. At the start of the Netherlands innings, England were merely toothless, albeit on a sublime batting surface. Jimmy Anderson, who would end the day with England's third worst bowling figures at a World Cup, was removed from the attack after two overs. Wayne Barresi, giving himself room, tormented Stuart Broad by swatting boundaries down to third man from all parts of his bat.
The departures of Alexei Kervezee, caught off the glove against Tim Bresnan, and Barresi, alertly stumped off Graeme Swann, did not damage the Netherlands' progress greatly. Tom Cooper and Ten Doeschate had time for reconnaissance and soon the innings regained its momentum.
Cooper, who plays for South Australia, never quite produced any magic (so what's new there?). He survived a tough chance when hooking – Pietersen at long-leg could not quite hold on – but was out to the first ball of the next over when presenting a very simple catch to midwicket off Collingwood.
Only Swann, despite the threat of jetlag, imposed any restraints.
Ten Doeschate did not score off his first 11 deliveries, but there was never an air of desperation about him. Once he had leg-glanced a boundary off Collingwood to get off the mark, he cruised along until he had reached 47.
Then we witnessed the start of England's disintegration in the field. Ten Doeschate mis-hit the ball in the air over the head of Swann, the bowler.
Pietersen, running in from long-off could have caught the ball; so could Anderson running in from long-on. Instead they both stopped and then they both stared – at each other. Whereupon Swann stared meaningfully at both of them. Here was a schoolboy error. At least one of them should have attempted to make the catch.
It was also a critical error as Ten Doeschate grew ever more composed.
Whenever he felt moved to do so, he glided down the pitch to hit the ball over mid-wicket – three times for six. Meanwhile, his placement was as assured as his running between the wickets was alert. He looked so relaxed he might have been at Chelmsford.
Soon England were at their frenetic worst. Collingwood, of all people, failed to take his place inside the fielding circle and England gifted a no-ball to the opposition; Swann dropped a sitter at short third man. Anderson was swatted here, there and everywhere and skulked back to his mark as if the world was against him. To sum it all up they yielded four overthrows to enable Ten Doeschate to reach his hundred, albeit via a direct hit from Trott's throw.
"It was very special for me and we should be proud of ourselves," Ten Doeschate said.
Nor could Strauss be exempt from criticism. When Peter Borren came to the wicket with Ten Doeschate in full flow, the England captain made no attempt to stop his Dutch counterpart from taking a single. The Netherlands were in a powerplay at the time so England stuck inflexibly to their pre-ordained powerplay field. Thus Borren could give the strike to Ten Doeschate at will.
England were horrible in the field. Strauss would acknowledge that afterwards. Some sharp words may be necessary, which can be all the more severe since they eventually won the game. There is one other source of consolation; experience tells us there's not much to be gained from peaking early in this competition.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Cricket World Cup will be the tenth and will be hosted by three South Asian cricket Test playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Bangladesh will be co-hosting a first cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket One Day International format, with fourteen teams to compete in the planned national cricket. The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first game to be played February 19, 2011 with co-host of India and Bangladesh face off at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka opening ceremony . The will be held February 17, 2011, two days before the tournament.
The World Cup was also supposed to be co-hosted by Pakistan but in 2009 following the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore national, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to divest Pakistan of its hosting rights. The headquarters of the Organising Committee were originally located in Lahore, but now have moved to Mumbai. Pakistan should have included 14 games, including a semi-final.ight matches of Pakistan have received in India, four in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule was released and the mega event will be held from 19 February to 2 April in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
ICC Cricket World Cup Teams 2011:
Group A – Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada.
Group B – India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, the Netherlands and Ireland.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Schedule or timetable:
1. February 19 (14.00) – India, Bangladesh VS – Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
2. February 20 (09.30) – New Zealand vs Kenya – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
3. February 20 (14.30) – Sri Lanka v Canada – Hambantota Cricket stadium International, Hambantota
4. February 21 (14.00) – Australia vs Zimbabwe – Stadium Sardar Patel, Ahmedabad
5. February 22 (14.30) – Netherlands vs England – Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
6. February 23 (14.30) – Pakistan VS Kenya – Hambantota International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota
7. Feb. 24 (14:30) South Africa – West Indies vs – Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
8. February 25 (14.30) – Australia vs New Zealand – Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
9. February 25 (09.30) – Bangladesh vs. Ireland – Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
10. Feb. 26 (14.30) – Sri Lanka against Pakistan – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
11. February 27 (14.30) – Italy vs England – Eden Gardens, Kolkata
12. February 28 (14:30) – West Indies vs Netherlands – Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
13. February 28 (09.30) – Zimbabwe vs Canada – Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
14. March 1 (14.30) – Sri Lanka v Kenya – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
15. 2 March (14:30), – England vs Italy – M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
16. March 3 (09.30) – South Africa vs Netherlands – Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
17. March 3 (14.30) – Pakistan vs Canada – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
18. March 4 (09.30) – New Zealand vs Zimbabwe – Stadium Sardar Patel, Ahmedabad
19. March 4 (14.30) – Bangladesh vs West Indies – Cricket Stadium sher-e-Bangladesh, Dhaka
20. March 5 (14.30) – Sri Lanka vs Australia – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
21. March 6 (14.30) – Italy vs Ireland – M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
22. 6 March (09.30am) – England vs. South Africa – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
23. March 7 (14.30) – Kenya vs Canada – Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
24. March 8 (14.30) – Pakistan vs New Zealand – Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
25. March 9 (14.30) – Italy vs Netherlands – Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
26. March 10 (14.30) – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe – Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
27. March 11 (09.30) – West Indies vs Ireland – Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
28. March 11 (14.30) – England vs Bangladesh – Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Chittagong
29. March 12 (14.30) – South Africa vs. Italy – Stadium Vidarbha Cricket Association Nagpur
30. March 13 (09.30) – New Zealand vs Italy – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
31. March 13 (14:30) – Australia vs Kenya – Chinnaswamy M. Stadium, Bengaluru
32. March 14 (14.30) – Pakistan vs Zimbabwe – Pallekele International Cricket stadium in Kandy
33. March 14 (14.30) – Netherlands vs Bangladesh – Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Chittagong
34. March 15 (14.30) – South Africa vs Ireland – Eden Gardens, Kolkata
35. March 16 (14.30) – Australia vs Italy – M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
36. 17 March (14:30), – England vs West Indies – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
37. March 18 (14.30) – Sri Lanka vs New Zealand – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
38. March 18 (09.30) – Ireland vs Holland – Eden Gardens, Kolkata
39. March 19 (14.30) – Australia v Pakistan – Stadium R. Premadasa, Colombo
40. March 19 (09.30) – Bangladesh vs South Africa – Cricket Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka
41. March 20 (09:30) – Zimbabwe vs Kenya – Eden Gardens, Kolkata
42. March 20 (14.30) – India vs West Indies – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
43. March 23 (14.30) – Fourth of First Instance (Group Group A1 vs. B4) – Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
44. March 24 (14.30) – Second Quarter (Group A2 vs B3 Group) – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
45. March 25 (14.30) – Third Quarter (Group A3 vs Group B2) – Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
46. March 26 (14.30) – Fourth Quarter (Group Group A4 vs B1) – Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad
47. 29 March (14.30) – First semifinal (winner vs. Match 43 Winner Match 45) – Stadio R. Premadasa, Colombo
48. March 30 (14.30) – Second Semi Final (Winner Match Winner of Match 44 vs 46) – Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
49. April 2 (14.30) – Final (Winner Match 47 vs. Winner of Match 48) – Wankhede
