*Official* Semis and Final Thread

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Hmmm..I notice Ganguly ended up using 8 bowlers and not one of them was himself. For a captain who can bowl, he was quite timid w.r.t. putting himself up as a 'sacrificial lamb'...

[Tim]

For me, if an Indian batsman doesn't have a match winning knock then Ricky Ponting gets my vote as the best innings in the World Cup, because im sure it will be one of the best of all time anyway.

[Tim]

Well McGrath gets Tendulkar, this is all over...Tendulkar needed to bat the whole innings.

[Tim]

if Brett Lee fires in a yorker here, I think Sehwag is going to lose his off-stump, huge movement & pace.

Infact I think Shane Bond got Sehwag a couple of times early by bowling yorker length with pace when India were here in NZ.

Ganguly almost had a brainmelt against McGrath.

[Tim]

Well at least Ganguly is playing some shots here, its better than just letting Australia completely run them over.

[Eclipse]

Shewag just hit McGrath for six over point.

[aussie_beater]

Congrats to the Australian team for winning their third world cup... Cheers !!

Absolute amateurish performance from the Indian bowlers specially Srinath and Zaheer which gave the Aussies the room to build the winning platform.It was hard to imagine that this was the bowling attack which was the most potent in the tournament after the Aussies.I thought Srinath was brain dead, bowling those full tosses at the death and also Zaheer spraying all over.Nehra maintained a good line and length but it was always gonna be hard after the Aussie openers had hit the opening bowlers with such abandon and the field had to be made a little defensive.

India batted positively and scored quickly but after Sehwag's run-out it was all over.Sachin's failure was a disappointment but the pressure on his shoulders was huge and he had to hit out in those initial overs and there was not other way out.

Ganguly's decision to bowl first is going to come under some scrutiny, but I felt that he took the right decision given the early juice in the wicket and with a seam attack that had performed creditably in the tournament thus far, he could bank on them to deliver some early wickets but it was not to be as the opening bowlers just were too nervous for the occasion and failed to rise up and perform.

[Anil]

Well....that's that.....guess it was a nice dream while it lasted....

Hats off to the Aussies and Ponting! They played like champions and won like champions. The Indian bowling which had propped up the team and carried them through most of the tournament was in total disarray as the Aussie top order ripped into them and tore them apart. The match was over as a contest maybe in the first 5 overs itself. Chasing 360 against this attack is next to impossible in the best of circumstances. I don't blame the batting for disintegrating the way they did.

The Indians were clearly the second best team in the tournament and lost to one of the greatest teams of all time. No shame in that. That they made the final, coming into the tourney after the demoralising NZ tour is a remarkable achievement and should be recognised as such. I hope stupid and malicious "fans" don't start the effigy burning and stone throwing all over again back in India.

[krkode]

Like Botham (?) said, "It wasn't a bad decision to bowl first. The bowlers just let him down."

And I tend to agree. Although, I do think India could have done better batting first (like they always do), I also think it was a rather unimpressive bowling show from the Indians, so first or second, there's no excuse for that kind of bowling except unprecedented amounts of pressure and some excellent batting.

So there, I do wish they had batted first, but oh well...It's over...

[Gotchya]

Again the Australians show their class. I wonder while I watch them play......they play not one but two levels above their oppositions. Here we are, thinking about the final of the World Cup. Pressure match, huge game, something that every team and Australia especially have been building upto, we expect to see some horn locking cricket. Yet every player in the Aussie outfit are so unfazed of all of it. Playing dismissive cricket, I haven't seen a team dominate and disregard the oppoistion so emphatically on a consistent run. I mean, really if you consider this, the World CUp is supposed to be a challenging tournament, you saw the Aussies trudge over every one. The law of averages looks like a fallacy if you happened to watch this tournament.

Ponting played the best I have seen him play. Untiring and relentless, the shots he played were unbelievable. Gilchrist and Hayden not to beundermned nor the superb knock Martyn played. All top four scored 359. In a world cup final :O

Anyway, I think Zaheer and Srinath were :rolleyes: well, dustbin stuff. Sure the top order was on fire but I could have helped myself better than they did. Who advised them to pitch the ball in the wrong half of the pitch ? Zaheer can be forgiven, the moment would have gotten the better of him, but THATS exactly what Srinath is there for, calm nerves and show the way. I think Ganguly missed a trick by giving the first over to Zaheer, but if Srinath was going to bowl the way he did, dont care anyway.

I didn't honestly believe that India were going to hunt down this total, with Tendulkar going on ball 5, they were out of contention to challenge it. Sehwag's effort was comendable though, giving up is not the call of the day.


With the Aussies, its not a matter of conquering, its a matter of challenging them.....yet ! Welldone Australia and welldone RIcky Ponting. To the team thats perhaps better than the Windies of the 70's ?!!

[Gotchya]

Originally posted by Eclipse
My gut tells me Ponting will make a big score and set Australia up for victory but I also have a feeling India are going to fight like hell to reach the total set and that there are going to be some very tense and vital match situations and prehaps some big decisions to be given or not given by the umpire.

You got the first part spot on.

[marc71178]

Does anyone else remember Shaun Pollock criticising the pitch for the final before the WC started after SA played Pak there?

I seem to remember it wouldn't produce good cricket and would be a low scoring game?

[The Argonaut]

A brilliant win to the Aussies. I couldn't believe the onslaught from Ponting at the end. He had a little bit of luck along the way but punished some pretty awful bowling at the end.

Ganguly again showed that he had no honour by appealing for that catch off Gilchrist where the ball not only missed the bat by a fair margin but clearly bounced before he caught it. It only confirmed my opinion of him. His captaincy was also quite flawed. Not bring ing Zaheer back on earlier was a mistake as was not bowling the Turbanator out at the end. Singh had bowled well early and just because he had one expensive over he never bowled again. Mongia also bowled well and could have bowled the full 10. Nehra only enhanced his reputation with a good performance. He was expensive late but wasn't everyone.

However he did make the right decision to bowl first. The Aussies would have skittled them quickly on a pitch that seamed around a lot. The Indian bowlers did not take advantage of such wonderful conditions for bowling. Gilchrist played a great knock early to make the Indians more nervous about being in the final.

Tendulkar mat have gotten out early but he had no choice. The Indians can take heart in that they did not throw in the towel. I was expecting them to get rolled once Tendulkar was out. Sehwag played his best innings in the tournament but could not beat an accurate throw from Lehmann.

I guess the Aussies strength was that they played more as a team than any other side. Everyone made a contibution along the way. Just think of key contributions from Symonds, Bichel, Bevan, McGrath, Lee, Ponting and Martyn in tough matches. Only Hayden and Hogg can say that they didn't have a good tournament as individuals. This is another good reason why no Australians figured in the man of the tournament awards. India relied on Tendulkar too much though their bowlers did the job for them during the tournament.

All in all a great victory though the Indians shouldn't get too down as they were clearly the second best side in the comp but the Aussies are ahead of them by a country mile.

[krkode]

I too was quite disappointed with Ganguly's appeal for that catch. If there was one person who knew exactly what went on, it was Ganguly, and good for Bucknor for not giving in.

But I really find it no less honorable than sledging or excessive appealing...the guy was obviously desperate.