Aussies back to being the best!

It was my dream final-AUS vs NZ in the ICC Champions' trophy final-two of my favorite teams in the cricket arena.Australia were the hot favorites to win the title but the Kiwis had proved to be the dark horses in the tournament by reaching the final beyond anyone's expectations.Australia is known for battling it out till the last ball whereas New Zealand is well known for utilising its limited talent to the full extent.But just before the match,New Zealand suffered a big blow when vice captain Brendon McCullum declared that captain Daniel Vettori won't be able to play due to hamstring problem.Daniel had been awesome throughout the tournament both with the ball and the bat and had often turned out to be the match winner for his team at crucial points.It was indeed a shocking news for New Zealand.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.Australian bowlers did a remarkably wonderful job in restricting the Kiwis to 20o on a pitch where more than 300 is the winning score.The Kiwis looked vulnerable and wickets fell at regular intervals.Peter Siddle was impressive in his spell of one for eight in five overs before off spinner Hauritz completed a figure of three for 37 in 10 excellent overs.Redmond was the highest scorer for the team with 40 followed by Broom(37) and Franklin(33).

Australia had to score 201 from 50 overs at 4.02 runs per over.Australia had a nightmare start to its campaign when it fell to 6/2 with Shane Bond and Kyle Mills taking a wicket each to eliminate Tim Paine and the captain and the highest run getter of the tourney Ricky Ponting. The team struggled to finish for 37/2 after 16 overs.But Shane Watson's unbeaten century led the team to a 6 wicket win over the Kiwis.New Zealand could have the match in their control had Brendon McCullum not dropped a catch of Cameron White which would have reduced the Aussies to 41/3 after the 18th over.Both Watson and White put up 128 runs for the third wicket.The star of the day was undoubtedly Shane Watson who maintained his composure at a crunch situation and ended the innings with two successive sixes off spinner Jeetan Patel to end the match at 105*.While Shane Watson was awarded the man of the match,it was the truly deserving Ricky Ponting who claimed the man of the tournament and Golden Bat award.The tournament ended on a high note for the best team!

Australia truly deserved to win the Champions' trophy title as they put up an incredible effort to get out of trouble whenever it mattered,be it against West Indies or Pakistan or New Zealand in the final.Aussies are now back to being the best and they deserve this reward for their consistent performance in the ICC events.

Clash of the Champions!

Australia and New Zealand are all set to play the ICC Champions' trophy final today.This one is gonna be an exciting match for sure.Though Australia are the obvious favorites,it would be a blunder to underestimate the Kiwis.I wish the Aussies can successfully defend their title!

Australia has been dominant in all the ICC tournaments except the Twenty20 .Till the semifinals,the Kangaroos have managed to come back from the brink of defeat to top their respective Pool A table with 5 points from three matches.But in the semis against England,the team was an altogether different version of what had been seen earlier.Shane Watson along with Ricky Ponting stole the show for the team.They were nearly flawless scoring the highest second wicket partnership in Australian history.If the team plays like this,it seems virtually impossible to stop the Kangaroos.
On the other hand,no one expected Kiwis to make it to the finals.But they have really upped their standard when it mattered.They are now on a three match winning roll against Sri lanka,Engand and Younus Khan's team and if they continue their form in this way,they would pose some serious danger to the Kangaroos.The captain Vettori has done an excellent job till now both with the ball and the bat.The bowlers have also showed outstanding performance.So both Australia and New Zealand are looking forward to make history today!

I wish Ponting's team emerges victorious in the final to take away "its" title successfully because they certainly deserve to be up there.

New Zealand stuns Pakistan!

The second semi final of the Champions' trophy got over with the underdog Kiwis stunning the in-form Pakistan team!I was completely in suppport of the Kiwis from the start not because I am an Indian and I am anti-Pakistan in all fields but because I really appreciate the sportsman spirit of Kiwis and most importantly,two of my favorites-Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori are part of the team:)

Pakistan got off to a good start but wickets started falling regularly.Pakistan recovered well from 86/4 to put up a modest 233 on the scoreboard thanks to the 80 run partnership between Akmal and Md.Yousuf and Akmal's 55 off 62 balls based on which Pakistan's score was built.Ajmal was the most successful among bowlers with two for 39 in eight overs.

Grant Elliot's unbeaten half century inspired New Zealand to register a five wicket win over Pakistan and book their spot in the final opposite Australia.After the Kiwis struggled to 71 for three,Taylor and Elliot combined for a partnership of 55 runs before Taylor was bowled by Shahid Afridi for 38 off 61.Elliot then shared a 104 run stand with Vettori(41) before the fall of the fifth wicket.
Ian Butler proved to be the most successful with his four for 44 in 10 overs.Vettori took three for 43 in 10 overs to reach his 250th ODI wicket.

So an interesting match up lies between Australia and New Zealand.Hoping for Australia to lift the trophy!

Aussies' spectacular innings!

The day before yesterday it was the first semifinal of ICC Champions' trophy 2009-England vs Australia-another high profile match!Australia was no doubt the favorites and I too,wanted Australia to reach the final as I am a big supporter of Australian team!

England won the toss and elected to bat first..maybe their startegy was to make a high score and then pressurize the Aussies in the second half on a batting favorable pitch.Hence England started with much more aggression than expected.Down two wickets early on,their score skyrocketed thanks to hard hitting by Paul Collingwood.The runs came on coming for England and Aussies needed to stop this free flowing of runs!As usual,the bowlers responded brilliantly to make the score 101/6.
But England was in no mood to give up..the lower order batsmen did a brilliant job to put up a respectable 257 on the scoreboard!Now it was Australia's turn to chase the total and earn themselves a place in the final spot.

England was successful early on with the wicket of Tim Paine in the second over.The rest was history!Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson's centuries helped the team complete the job with nearly eight overs to spare.Ponting and Watson batted exceptionally well to form the highest ever ODI partnership in Australia's history and coast an excellent win!Ricky Ponting also became the first Australian and only the third player to pass the mark of 12000 runs in ODIs.Australia will face New Zealand in the final of Champions' trophy on Monday.

Among the bowlers,Siddle (3/55) was most successful followed by Brett Lee(2/46) and Shane Watson(2/35).Tim Paine took 5 brilliant catches but certainly the man of the match was Shane Watson(136*) who played an amazing innings with both the ball and the bat!

I wish Australia maintains this form in the final and defends its title successfully!