Australia Breaks Through

Australia, which had not reached the final of the previous four competitions, won the title for the first time and skipper Ricky Ponting attributed it to TEAM EFFORT.

- G. Viswanath

Brian Lara suspected that his team may have been over come by stage fright against Australia in the title match of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Unseasonal showers had delayed the start of the final by almost three hours and in the end, the West Indies — competing to defend the trophy it had won defeating England in the 2004 final at The Oval in London — flattered to deceive after a blazing 49-run start from Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and was shot out for 138 in two and a half hours. Australia, which had lost the league match to the West Indies by 10 runs, flexed its muscles to win the title for the first time. A jubilant Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, said: “We were desperate to win and again the players showed the character to be the best. It was a commanding display by our team.”

AUSTRALIA, which had not reached the final of the previous four competitions, had a whiff of the title when left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken rocked the top-order and once he removed the in-form Gayle, theWest Indies innings collapsed like a pack of cards. Gayle made 37, Chanderpaul 27, and Dwayne Bravo 21, but the rest fell for single digit scores. Glenn McGrath and Shane Watson ripped apart the middle order, including the wicket of Lara, who had recovered from a back spasm on the eve of the final.