image courtesy cricinfo.comRain was the last thing the organizers of the World Cup would have wanted. But the sparkle that the big broad blade of Adam Gilchrist provided took away the gloom of the gun-metal skies that descended as a pale of gloom over the Kensington Oval.
The demolition act from Gilly was the best ever seen on the big stage, even eclipsing the likes of Clive Lloyd (1975), Viv Richards (1979),and Aravinda de Silva 1996). It was a brutal onslaught with a touch of science. The Lankans, I thought, missed out on devising a plan for Gilchrist, who had a quiet World Cup until the summit clash.
The Islanders did well against Hayden, Ponting and Clarke, but missed out on Gilchrist who just had an extra special day in the office. It was clean hitting, and that most of the runs came straight down the ground was testimony to the batsmen's supreme skill sets. The catch Fernando dropped proved too costly in the final analysis. If 30 runs had been chopped of the final tally, things could have been scripted differently.
The chase was always going to look tough for Sri Lanka who had a mountain to climb from ball one. Add the rain, bad light, interruptions and some sustained bowling made it almost impossible for them to get near the target.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara kept their side alive with some imaginative batting but the enormity of the task was always going to get to them at some time, and it’s a pity it happened against some fairly innocuous bowling.
The West Indies bowling in the 80's was so tight that Larry Gomes and Viv always got a few when batsmen went after them thinking a few easy runs were on the anvil. Same with Hogg and Clarke here. The mind set of the batsmen was such they wanted to make up for lost time against them and fell.
The last two finals have been something of a damp squib. They were both dull one-sided affairs. But it was heartening to note the third block of the Asian front throwing up a spunky fight that made the final worthwhile to watch, after all.
Gilchrist richly deserved to leave the World Cup stage with a knock that will be remembered for long. He was in the 'zone' that happens to batsmen once in a few seasons. It happened on the World Cup final, sorrily for Sri Lanka: Gilly had to find that 'zone' on Saturday.
It was a match to remember for Glenn McGrath, who quit the stage with this famous win. He might have not been at his miserly best but finished things in style and deserved every encomium showered on him.
The Cup has gone to the team that had covered every aspect of the game well. No one must grudge the fact they have made the World Cup their own.
6 comments:
Congratulations Australia ..No surprise finishes in this world cup.
54 matches 16 teams and ONLY one team Australia played like true champions and proved once again in this event that no matter which the opponent team is ...Australia made sure that they are miles and miles of reach and they made lives of opponent teams miserable.
The first half looked like Gilchrist against the entire SL team. What a match and right time for Gilchrist to come into superb form. He wasn't at all violent in this world cup and was very quite but unleashed all his reserved strengths in final match and SL had to bear the brunt of his ruthless hitting.
hey krish...i completely agree with you when u commented in a television show that man-to -man the West Indies team of the past is better than today's Australian Team...however Some points which came across my mind are as follows
1) The fielding standards set by the current Aussie team would be in my opinion far superior to the then team from the Windies...I do believe people like Gus Logie,Greenidge,Haynes,Harper(a bit later),Richards & of course the "cat" Clive Lloyd were terrific fielders in their own right...But at the same time the Aussies right from 1995 when they started to dominate the world scene,along with South Africa have changed the way the world perceived fielding in the shorter as well as the longer game..The whole team is superlatively fit & each of them are probably one of the best in the world in their own right....Credit should be given to this side for making fielding as important dimension of the game as batting or bowling
2) The Aussies in their own right have taken the game to an another level...With today's modern technology & media coverage,the techniques for coaching the team & analysing the opponents have undergone a tremendous change with the plethora of information available to the players..In spite of the same the Aussies have dominated & taken the game a notch above...This definitely puts them above the West Indies team in some ways..
Although I must add the above is not an ideal comparison at all since the basic conditions were not the same...However just for their sheer dominance the Aussies may just deserve more credit as they once again demonstrated in the Final
srikanth ,like you said i totally agree Sri Lanka dint plan for gilchrist.Furthermore Gilchrist's innings was not flawless since how many edges went pass through the bat,how many catches were dropped and how many balls landed in no mans land.It was just gillies day and if it is one of those days nothing will go right for even of you have the best bowling attack in the world.I totally concur with you that Australia are definitely a good team but not inviscible and I totally concur with you expert analysis on CNN IBN in contrast to amateurish analysis from your colleagues on CNN IBN that Australia team will not be as good as they were sans mcgrath and warne.
In spite of all the arguements and disagreements, I believe we all should agree on one thing.....
"The best team won"
Isn't it??
First I want to congratulate for the World cup win. It is a win for overall planning and hard work done by both players and the Australian Board.
Australians are ruthless in their approach on and off the field. I mean to say, the players, the aussie umpires, the press, media, and the coaches (of India, Srilanka, Bangladesh incl.)
I was made to believe before the any series aussies were superior. It is not good for the game of cricket. Aussies may have won the world cup but lost the credibilty.
Ok on the post world cup scenario..
My observation is when a team play one day cricket well, it becomes a better team in tests also. I think Srikanth will also agree on this point ;-)
Our team's ultimate goal must be to become No.1 Team in both forms of cricket. Short term goal for the year 2007 should be (atleast) to rank in top 3 in One day cricket.
We have our own problems to face in team selection, team payments, finding a coach, telecast rights, etc., Will BCCI and players succeed in future?
ICC has added one more english speaking team (Ireland) to the main panel. Will this be a setback for asian powerhouses especially India?
Many questions still remain for Indian cricket.
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