Aussies clinch ICC Champions Trophy with easy win

Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: World champions Australia cruised to a maiden International Cricket Council Champions Trophy, Mini World Cup victory defeating the West Indies by eight wickets in a rain affected final worked off at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai here on Sunday.

Even then Australia's march towards an early victory was shattered following a heavy thunderstorm during the dinner break which delayed the resumption of play by more than two hours.

However, the game did recommence at 9.00 p.m. local time giving Australia a revised victory target of 116 runs from a maximum of 35 overs.

After bowling out the West Indies for a paltry 138 runs, they reached their target in 28.1 overs with opener Shane Watson hitting an unbeaten half century from 88 balls and Damien Martyn scoring an undefeated 47 from 71 balls after Australia had suffered a double blow.

This was after Adam Gilchrist had failed to keep down a rising delivery from Ian Bradshaw while skipper Ricky Ponting played too early against a Jerome Taylor inswinger to have them in a spot of trouble at 13 for 2 in the fourth over.

But Damien Martyn continued with his excellent form as he produced a couple of beautiful cover drives and looked quite confident against the West Indian attack.

Earlier Nathan Bracken snapped up three top wickets to send the West Indies crashing to a dismal 138 runs from just 30.4 overs after skipper Brian Lara had won the toss and chose to bat first.

The 29-year-old left arm paceman from New South Wales bowled a superb line and length under difficult conditions to return excellent figures of three wickets for 22 runs from his spell of six overs. Bracken changed his variation to good effect and was rewarded for his persistence that saw the West Indies lose ten wickets for just 89 runs.

Bracken who shared the new ball along with Brett Lee were under tremendous pressure following a severe onslaught from the West Indian openers Chris Gayle and Shivanarine Chanderpaul.

This pair tore the Australian bowlers to pieces during the first five overs during which time they raced to 49 for no loss.

The ever accurate Brett Lee was hammered for 36 runs from his initial spell of three overs and the experienced Glen McGrath conceded as many as 20 runs from his first two overs.

The West Indies were really running away with the game with Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul plundering the Australian attack to all corners of the ground.

Chanderpaul it was who led the way with some superb drives through the on side and he also hoisted Brett Lee for an extra ordinary six over the fine leg boundary.

In contrast the hard hitting Gayle got off to a slow start but once he settled down the runs began to flow at a tremendous pace.

The dashing left hander made his intention clear when he drove McGrath for a six over long-on which was followed by two cracking boundaries in successive deliveries. Gayle was on a song as he cut and pulled in great style to help the West Indies post their first fifty runs in just 5.4 overs.

But Nathan Bracken held his nerve against some aggressive batting and eventually won the battle for the Australians who had the final laugh by the 15th over. Bracken delivered probably the best ball in the whole tournament to get rid off Chris Gayle who was simply beaten and bowled by a beauty.

Until then Chris Gayle was in a punishing mood having plundered 37 runs from just 27 deliveries.

His dismissal certainly was the turning point of the entire game as Australia soon gained the upper hand through some top class of bowling.

Bracken had earlier broken a dangerous opening stand by removing Shivnarine Chanderpaul for a well complied 27 runs from 18 balls. The elegant right hander probably misread the slow delivery and dragged the ball into his stumps rather unfortunately.

In between Bracken also deceived the solid Ramnaresh Sarwan with another slow delivery to put the brakes on the West Indian scoring rate. McGrath came back well to bowl three maidens and also picked up the prize wicket of skipper Brian Lara to leave the opposition at 88 for 4.

The West Indies never recovered from there onwards as they lost wickets at regular intervals and even could not bat the full fifty overs.

Dwayne Bravo batted with a lot of determination to pull his team out of trouble but he was always fighting a losing battle with wickets tumbling at the other end. His 47 balls resistance came to an end finally when he was trapped leg before wicket to a straight delivery from left arm spinner Bradley Hogg.

The match was almost over for the West Indies when they collapsed to 103 for 5 in the 20th over and paceman Shane Watson polished off the tail by capturing the wickets of Marlon Samuels and Carlton Bough during a controlled sell of seam bowling.

WEST INDIES
S. Chanderpaul b Bracken		 27
C. Gayle b Bracken			 37
R. Sarwan c Hogg b Bracken		  7
D. Bravo lbw b Hogg			 21
B. Lara c Gilchrist b McGrath		  2
R. Morton c Gilchrist b McGrath		  2
M. Samuels c Ponting b Watson		  7
C. Baugh lbw b Watson			  9
I. Bradshaw b Lee			  7
J. Taylor not out			  5
C. Collymore run out			  0
Extras (lb5, nb2, w7)			 14
TOTAL					138
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-49 (Chanderpaul), 2-65 (Sarwan), 
3-80 (Gayle), 4-88 (Lara), 5-94 (Morton), 
6-113 (Samuels), 7-125 (Baugh), 8-125 (Bravo),
9-136 (Bradshaw).
BOWLING: Lee 7.4-0-49-1 (nb2), Bracken 6-0-22-3 (w3),
 McGrath 7-3-24-2 (w2), Symonds 3-0-16-0, 
Watson 3-0-11-2 (w1), Hogg 4-1-11-1 (w1)
Overs: 30.4

AUSTRALIA
S. Watson not out			 57
A. Gilchrist c Gayle b Bradshaw		  2
R. Ponting lbw b Taylor			  0
D. Martyn not out			 47
Extras (lb4, nb1, w5)			 10
TOTAL (for two wickets)			116
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Gilchrist), 2-13 (Ponting)
BOWLING: Gayle 1-0-5-0, Taylor 7-0-42-1 (w1),
Bradshaw 6-0-21-1 (nb1, w1), Collymore 6-1-19-0 (w1), 
Samuels 5-0-9-0, Sarwan 3.1-0-16-0 (w2)
Overs: 28.1
Result: Australia won by eight wickets 
(Target revised to 116 from 35 overs due to rain)
Man of the final: Shane Watson (AUS)
Man of the tournament: Chris Gayle (WIS)