Australia recorded a whooping 275-run victory over Afghanistan in their Cricket World Cup tie on Wednesday at the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground in Perth, thanks to opener David Warner's damaging antics with the bat and Mitchell Johnson's devastating spell.
Put in to bat first, Australia posted a mammoth total of 417-6 in their allotted 50 overs, breaking the record for the highest total in the World Cup that was posted by India (413) against Bermuda in 2007.
Warner was unstoppable as he thumped Afghanistan's bowling line-up with his 133-ball 178-run knock that included 19 fours and five sixes. He posted a dominating 260-run second wicket partnership with Steven Smith, who fell five runs short of his ton.
Glenn Maxwell was also in splendid form as he knocked a brisk 88 runs off just 39 deliveries, including six fours and seven sixes.
Aaron Finch (four), all-rounder James Faulkner (seven) and Mitchell Marsh (eight) failed to shine with the bat, while wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin remained unbeaten on his individual 20 runs.
Pacers Dawlat Zadran and Shapoor Zadran claimed two wickets apiece, including the crucial wickets of Warner, Smith and Maxwell, but conceded 101 and 89 runs respectively in their spells.
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As Afghanistan began their chase, they failed to get off to a solid start, with both their openers Javed Ahmadi and Usman Ghani going cheaply for their individual scores of 13 and 12 respectively.
Nawroz Mangal was the highest scorer for Afghanistan with his 35-ball 33-run knock. Asghar Stanikzai (four), Samiullah Shenwari (17), skipper Mohammad Nabi (two) and wicketkeeper batsman Afsar Zazai (10) were the others to fall cheaply as they failed to add any substantial amount of runs to Afghanistan's score.
Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the Australian bowlers as he claimed four wickets, while conceding just 22 runs during his spell as he damaged the Afghanistan batting line-up.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also fired with the ball as they claimed two wickets apiece to wrap up Afghanistan for just 142 runs in just 37.3 overs.
Warner was named the Player of the Match for his blitzkrieg with the bat. He said that the most important thing was that they won so fantastically, adding that it was great to see other boys get amongst the runs.
Australian skipper Michael Clarke was happy with the 'very good win', and claimed that their batsmen were outstanding with the bat. He branded Warner's batting as exceptional, Smith's beautiful and Maxwell's fantastic.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Nabi claimed that the Australians played well, especially their batsmen, and admitted that their bowlers are the world's fastest, especially on the WACA pitch.
Australia have now won two out of their four group stage ties. They would next face Sri Lanka on Sunday for their fifth match of the tournament.