DHAKA: Australia beat Scotland by 7 wickets with 208 balls remaining in the ICC World Cup Pool A match at Bellerive Oval, Hobart Saturday.

They chased down Scotland-set 131-run target losing three wickets in 15.2-over.

Captain M Clarke opened Australia’s innings to provide him chances of match practice before the business stage. He scored 47-run.

Shane Watson, A Finch, JP Faulkner and David Warner gathered 24, 20, 16 and 21 runs respectively.

I Wardlaw, RML Taylor and J Davey took one Australian wicket each.

Earlier, Australia captain M Clarke won the toss and decided to bowl first in the match that kicked off at 9:30am Bangladesh time.

A haul of four and three wickets by Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins helped Australia restrict Scotland to 130 runs in 25.4-over.

Four Scottish batsmen reached the double digits and five got duck. Matt Machan scored 40 runs, followed by Josh Davey, Michael Leask, and Matt Machan contributing 26, 23 and 22 runs respectively.

Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, and Mitchell Johnson took one each helping Australia avoiding a clash with South Africa in the quarter final.

Starc’s 4 for 14 from 4.4 overs made him the most successful bowler of the World Cup - 16 wickets at an average of 8.5, strike rate of 13.8 and economy of 3.67.

This was Mitchell Johnson’s 150th ODI.

BDST: 1804 HRS, MAR 14, 2015