AUSTRALIA LIFTS CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY

Javed Ali, SQUARE CUT, YaHind Sports

The impeccable Australians lifted the Championship Trophy beating a resurgent West Indies, this was the first time that Australia has bagged this coveted Trophy,thus adding another feather to their cap of World Cup Winners. A high-profile day-night encounter played at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai however did not prove to its worth of being Called as a Final match, the cricket lovers anticipating a neck to neck clash were largely disappointed by a dismal show Of batting by the West Indians. Incidentally, Lara and his men suffered a similar collapse last September where they lost to Australia by 127 runs in the final of Tri-series DLF Cup played at a neutral venue Kuala Lampur Brian Lara won the toss and elected to bat first on a track which the experts say could fetch 280plus runs, it was evident from The bats of Chirs Gayle & Chanderpaul who led the onslaught cracking the Australian bowlers to every corner of the ground, Brett Lee was severely dealt with as he was punished for 36 runs in his first spell of 3 overs. At one stage I thought are they playing a 20-20 match as the score board was showing 49 in just 5 overs, well one has to be Complacent the way things were going but the openers forgot that there are still 45 overs to come, consequently Chanderpaul Lost his wicket in an attempt to play a big shot, two overs later Sarwan did the same mistake trying to hook. Chirs Gayle continued where he left, scoring 37 of just 27 balls with 6 fours and 2 huge sixes but could not accelerate further as He got bowled by a beauty from Nathan Bracken, his departure triggered the collapse, a comfortably placed West Indies at 80 for 2 in 8 overs were razed to 138 all out in 30 overs. It was a great come-back by the Australian bowlers as they kept cool and obliged their captain who shuffled the bowling attack With much finesse. Obviously, it was nothing but a cake-walk for the Australians, I was taken aback to see a dejected Lara asking Chris Gayle, A slow right arm bowler to start bowling the new ball, later Jerome Tayalor and Bradshaw operated from their respective ends, Shane Watson and Adam Gilchrist started off cautiously, there was a thin layer of happiness in the air for West Indies as Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting both were back in the pavilion with the score 13 for 2. An unwanted rain intervention spoiled the match after the dinner-break with the capacity crowd at the stadium awaiting the outcome, on and off rains forced the officiating umpires to cling over to the Duckworth/Lewis approved method. The match was Reduced to a target of 116 in 35 overs which was duly met by Watson 57 not out and Damien Martyn 47 not out. Watson was named Man of the Match whereas Chris Gayle was named Man of the Series. Well, that’s all what I have for you from my desk, I will be back to cover the forthcoming India’s tour to South Africa and the Ashes between England and Australia.