Gilchrist blasts Aussies to World Cup treble
… final overs played out in near-darkness
By Andrew Miller in Barbados
Guyana Chronicle
April 29, 2007
AUSTRALIA put the seal on the most dominant campaign in World Cup history, securing their fourth title and their third in a row since 1999 thanks to Adam Gilchrist's scintillating 149 from 104 balls.
But that, sadly, is not what the final of the ICC World Cup West Indies 2007 (to give it its full and fully deserved title) will be remembered for.
In a display of cack-handedness that heaped new levels of farce upon a farcical seven weeks, the final overs of a broken contest were played out in near-darkness, penetrated only by the glow of the pavilion lights and the bewildered blinking of 20 000 flash bulbs.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara sparked new life into a final that appeared to be drifting to a one-sided conclusion, adding 116 for the second wicket with a flurry of strokes that brought a new sound to the stadium, the thundering of thousands of previously mute Sri Lankan fans whose chanting reverberated around the packed Kensington Oval.
Responding to an Adam Gilchrist-propelled total of 281 for 4, Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga early, caught behind for 6 as Nathan Bracken cramped him for room outside off stump. He did, however, drill the very first ball of the reply through cover-point for four to set the standard for the innings. Whatever transpired, Sri Lanka were not about to be intimidated.
Not with two batsmen at the crease as experienced as Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, at any rate. Feeding off the inspiration of their captain, Mahela Jayawardene, whose beautifully paced hundred had shown them the light in the semi-final, the pair played themselves in dutifully, taking their time to determine that the pitch was still true, before climbing onto the offensive with a spate of boundaries off Shaun Tait, Glenn McGrath and Shane Watson.
Tait was hammered for three fours in an over by Jayasuriya, dropping too short and too wide too often for such an experienced opponent to forgive.
He did have Sangakkara dropped by a sprawling Shane Watson at third man, who was then bludgeoned for 13 in an over as Ricky Ponting called for the final Powerplay. McGrath, in his final international appearance, also bore the brunt of the assault, as Sangakkara joined in the mayhem with a blazing drive for six over mid-on, a whistling down-on-one-knee cover-drive, and a thumping pull through square leg.
At the 17-over mark, Sri Lanka had moved along to 106 for one, which compared favourably to Australia's own figure of 112 for 0, and it was time for Ponting to bring his spinner, Brad Hogg, into the attack. It was the make-or-break moment of Sri Lanka's innings - a dominant display here would leave them beautifully placed in the slog overs. But Hogg held his nerve as he has done all series, and it was Sangakkara who blinked first, miscuing a pull to Ricky Ponting at short midwicket, moments after easing him through the covers for four.
Never let it be said that Adam Gilchrist is not a man for the big occasion. After a quiet tournament, in which his most notable performances had come against Australia's lesser opponents, he turned on the style when the stakes were at their highest, slapping 13 fours and eight sixes in front of a capacity crowd at Bridgetown, en route to an outrageously commanding 149 from 104 balls.
By the halfway mark of a contest that had been reduced by rain to 38 overs a side, Australia had ransacked the most envied bowling attack in the competition to post a towering total of 281 for 4 - the sort of score that most sides would settle for in a full-length fixture.
Gilchrist has never been sluggish on the big stage, for this was his third scene-stealer in consecutive World Cup finals. Against Pakistan at Lord's in 1999, he cracked 54 from 36 balls; four years later against India at Johnannesburg, he made 57 from 48. But this was the highest-octane performance of the lot, and it delighted the sea of yellow-clad Australian supporters in the Bridgetown crowd. They had had to be patient as well, enduring a rain-delay of almost three hours as a steady drizzle ate away at the overs.
But once the sun came out and Gilchrist had gauged the pace and bounce of a rock-hard and true surface, there was no reining him - or Australia - in.
Australia's swaggering assault on their fourth World Cup and their third in a row since 1999 was all but complete. Gilchrist's innings was the highest ever made in a World Cup final, beating the mark of 140 set by his own captain, Ricky Ponting, four years ago, and it was launched in a stand of 172 for the first wicket with Matthew Hayden, who made just 38 from 55 balls before picking out Mahela Jayawardene in the covers.
Hayden's innings took his tournament tally to an incredible 659 runs at 73.22 - second only to Sachin Tendulkar's 671 mark in the 2003 World Cup - but today he was as anonymous as at any time in the past seven weeks. It did not matter a jot, for his performance as a quick-sprinting second fiddle was second-to-none. By the time of his dismissal, Gilchrist was already sitting pretty on 119, having faced almost five more overs than his partner.
Australia's decision to bat first in spite of the day's rainy start had been amply justified by the lunch break. Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, had said it was a good toss to lose, but the straw-coloured surface was the most reassuring sight that any of the Aussie batsmen have encountered all tournament. It had an impact on the opening bowling efforts as well. Chaminda Vaas was forced to call Kumar Sangakkara up to the stumps in only his second over, after Gilchrist had danced out of the crease to slap him for four and six.
Meanwhile Lasith Malinga - the deadliest weapon in the Sri Lankan armoury - opted for accuracy over explosiveness. He went for just six runs in his first spell of four overs, but he was clocking at an average of 84 mph, a good 10mph slower than in his devastating semi-final performance. It meant that the early breakthrough that Sri Lanka so needed never materialised, especially when Fernando - who began tidily enough from round the wicket - dropped a sharp return chance down by his shins when Gilchrist had made a run-a-ball 31.
The moment was lost and with it went Sri Lanka's best hope of controlling the tempo of the match. Fernando was a broken man after that - his next three deliveries were clubbed for four, four and six, the last of which very nearly took out the fire engine next to the 3Ws stand at long-on.
It can only have been there to douse the ardour of Australia's batsmen, because Gilchrist was absolutely smoking. He brought up his 15th ODI hundred from just 72 balls with a drilled four over long-off, and thereafter just heaved through the line with impunity - trusting his eye, the surface and the fact that the fight had gone out of his opponents.
Not even Muttiah Muralitharan managed to force the Aussie juggernaut to swerve. He started tidily, clearing his throat on several occasions as Gilchrist's pads were rapped by his doosra, but was eventually milked for 44 runs in his quota of seven wicketless overs, including a vast swept six over midwicket.
Sri Lanka's other spin options, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya, were no more successful, with Dilshan's two overs disappearing for 23.
For a while it looked as though Gilchrist would bat out the entire innings, but Fernando returned to the attack to make a belated impression, finding a top-edge off an attempted pull that spiralled uneasily to Chamara Silva in the midwicket region.
Gilchrist trooped off to a raucous ovation, dropping his bat as he turned to acclaim the Aussie contingent behind him. The score was 224 for 2 with eight overs to go, whereupon Andrew Symonds strode out of the pavilion - hardly the most reassuring sight a Sri Lankan could have hoped for. It was that sort of a day.
Symonds eventually finished unbeaten on 23 from 21 balls as Sri Lanka rescued their efforts just a touch. Ponting was run-out for 37 by a direct hit from Jayawardene in the covers before Malinga, cranking up the pace, bowled Watson around his legs as he tried to sweep.
But it was Gilchrist's day, and no mistake. Australia, the dominant team of the tournament, had saved their most devastating batting performance for last. (Cricinfo)
AUSTRALIA innings
A. Gilchrist c Silva b Fernando 149
M. Hayden c Jayawardene b Malinga 38
R. Ponting run-out (Jayawardene) 37
A. Symonds not out 23
S. Watson b Malinga 3
M. Clarke not out 8
Extras: (lb-4, w-16, nb-3) 23
Total: (four wkts, 38 overs) 281
Fall of wickets1-172, 2-224, 3-261, 4-266.
Bowling: Vaas 8-0-54-0, Malinga 8-1-49-2, Fernando 8-0-74-1, Muralitharan 7-0-44-0, Dilshan 2-0-23-0, Jayasuriya 5-0-33-0.
SRI LANKA innings
U. Tharanga c wkpr Gilchrist b Bracken 6
S. Jayasuriya b Clarke 63
K. Sangakkara c Ponting b Hogg 54
M. Jayawardene lbw b Watson 19
C. Silva b Clarke 21
T. Dilshan run-out 14
R. Arnold c wkpr Gilchrist b McGrath 1
C. Vaas not out 11
L. Malinga stp. Gilchrist b Symonds 10
D. Fernando not out 1
Extras: (lb-1, w-14) 15
Total: (8 wkts, 36 overs) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-123, 3-145, 4-156, 5-188, 6-190, 7-194, 8-211.
Bowling: Bracken 6-1-34-1, Tait 6-0-42-0, McGrath 7-0-31-1, Watson 7-0-49-1, Hogg 3-0-19-1, Clarke 5-0-33-2, Symonds 2-0-6-1.
Result: Australia won by 53 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method and win the 2007 Cricket World Cup.