JEDDAH, 29 April 2007 — A brutal assault from a one-man Panzer Division — Adam Gilchrist — and a combined mopping up operation by the Australian cricket machine left Sri Lanka battered in the World Cup final at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, yesterday.
Gilchrist blasted a record-breaking 149 in Australia’s 281 for four in 38 overs and then the vaunted Australia bowling reduced Sri Lanka to 215 for eight in 36 overs to seal an unprecedented third straight World Cup final victory and fourth overall. The margin of win was 53 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis system.
But the final was nearly marred with confusion reigning briefly with Lanka at 206 for seven - 63 runs adrift with 18 balls remaining. The umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar offered Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga a chance to walk off due to poor light. They did.
This sparked immediate celebrations in the Australian camp only for them to be brought down to earth by the umpires telling them the match had not ended. After consultations the match resumed and Australia rounded off the innings in near darkness.
The final was reduced to 38 overs after morning rains had delayed the start of play. The target was again revised to 269 in 36 overs after rain interrupted the proceedings again in the 25th over of the Lanka innings. Despite the curtailed final, there were enough fireworks from both sides to delight the packed crowd.
In the end the tall order of surmounting the massive Australian total proved too much for the Lankans. But they did not go quietly. With old warhorse Sanath Jayasuriya, the survivor from Sri Lanka’s 1996 team, leading the charge Lanka entertained some hopes.
But an inspiring bowling change by Australian captain Ricky Ponting, bringing in on slow left-arm bowler Michael Clarke in the 23rd over, proved the turning point. Jayasuriya, stepping out to step up the rate, saw the fourth floating delivery clatter his stumps and the pep in Lanka’s charge too dissipated. Jayasuriya had made 63 from 67 balls.
With the asking rate creeping up with every over, Lanka were left chasing the chimera.
Australia came into this match on the back of a run of 28 unbeaten games at the tournament and 22 straight wins. And they sustained their winning record with yet another allround display on the field.
Earlier, Gilchrist surpassed the 140 not out made by Ponting against India in Johannesburg four years ago to become the highest scorer in a final. His score was also the 11th highest of all time in World Cup matches behind South Africa’s Gary Kirsten 188 against UAE in Rawalpindi in 1996.
In all, Gilchrist faced just 104 balls and smashed eight sixes and 13 fours as Australia set a daunting target. Gilchrist and fellow left-hander Matthew Hayden’s stand of 172 was a new first-wicket record for a World Cup final, surpassing the 129 shared by England’s Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott during West Indies’ 92-run win at Lord’s in 1979.
Gilchrist, who has been having a quiet tournament, exploded at the right time on the world stage here. And he once again showed that he relished the big occasion. After his 54 from 36 balls against Pakistan in Lord’s in the 1999 final and 57 from 48 against India in Johannesburg in the 2003 final, the pyrotechnics in Bridgetown bedazzled all and outshone his earlier two cameos.
Gilchrist had a slow start, but once he had primed himself — on the pace and bounce on the hard and true surface — there was nothing the Lankan bowlers could do but watch and admire the Australian wicketkeeper taking the attack apart with ease.
Dilhara Fernando had one opportunity to curtail the onslaught when, having made a run-a-ball 31, Gilchrist checked his drive but the sharp low catch to the bowler’s ankles was grassed. With that the moment and Lanka’s hopes of controlling the tempo was lost. Fernando’s next three deliveries were clubbed for four, four and six.
The 35-year-old gloveman saw Australia to 100 in just 102 balls by off-driving Fernando for six. He then swept the Lankan dangerman Muttiah Muralitharan for a six that soared over mid-wicket.
Gilchrist broke Ponting’s record when he went down the pitch to drive left-arm spinner Jayasuriya, for a six over mid-wicket. Fernando eventually dismissed Gilchrist, the batsman skiing to Chamara Silva running round to mid-wicket but the damage had been done.
Earlier, Hayden was caught in the covers by Jayawardene off Malinga with the score on 172. When Gilchrist departed, there was enough time for Ponting to score 37 including a six over long-on off Malinga before he was run out.
In the Lankan innings, Upul Tharanga was the first man out caught behind by Gilchrist off Nathan Bracken for six with the total on seven in the third over. But Jayasuriya and Kumara Sangakkara, after a hesitant start, raised Lanka’s hopes with some brisk hitting and clever placements in an 116-run stand, till Sangakkara, who cracked 54 from 52 balls, fell to a catch by Ponting off Brad Hogg.
The momentum of the Lankan charge was broken when Jayasuriya fell, and when Shane Watson, who was plastered earlier by the Lankan batsmen, got one to move late to trap skipper Mahela Jaywardene for 19 it was all over bar the shouting.
Silva and Tillekeratne Dilshan nudged the score along with some fine strokeplay in a 32-run association. But two quick wickets — Dilshan failing to gain ground following a suicidal run and Silva’s castle being blown away by Clarke - saw the Australians slowly taking a stranglehold.
Glenn McGrath, who announced his retirement five months ago, arguably, had the most wonderful exit ever achieved by an Australian sportsman. Yesterday in Barbados — the scene, in 1994-95, of McGrath’s coming-of-age as a Test player — he secured a third consecutive World Cup triumph despite finishing with one for 31. Ironically the wicket was that of Russell Arnold, who too has taken an international bow.
— With input from agencies.
