Australia....... Again

The World Cup final. It was Australia vs Sri Lanka. Almost everyone was pretty certain that the Aussies would win. But most sincerely hoped Sri Lanka would.

For Adam Gilchrist, from the point of view of batting, it was not the best World Cup. That was why there was something due from him. The Sri Lankans could not have done anything about Gilchrist. There were no missed chances as such. But, luck sided with Gilly today, he hit one in the air to sweeper and it fell between two fielders.

If he hit it, it stayed hit. This was true throughout Gilly’s career and more so yesterday. Haydos took advantage of Gilly’s onslaught at the other end by trying to construct a well organised innings. He scored at an unusually slow rate with his strike rate at 69 but supported Gilchrist well. When Hayden fell, the Australians were in such a good position that even a collapse at that stage would not pose a heavy threat. Ponting also hit the ball a few times. Gilchrist fell to give way to Symonds who continued. At the conclusion of the innings, Australia were 281/4 in 38 overs; equivalent to about 356-370 in a match of full length.

The Sri Lankan innings actually started off pretty well. Although Tharanga went early after playing a good stroke, Jayasuriya and Sangakkara played very good knocks and stayed around for sometime. Sri Lanka then lost Jayasuriya at which stage they were on 145/3 and it was the 23^rd over. They were in a good position until the wickets started falling in uncomfortably quick succession.

But, one can also say that Sri Lanka were a touch unlucky. The toss proved to be crucial and notwithstanding the weather, first use of the pitch really helped the Australians. Also, towards the end of the game, the light was just so bad that the batsmen were searching for the ball coming towards them. Australia emerged triumphant but not as comprehensively as they would have liked (although that would not matter.)-BS