The Cup Of Joy

Australia reaffirmed their status as the undisputed champions in worldcricket by breaking the Champions Trophy jinx with an emphatic eight-wicketvictory over title holders West Indies in a rain-marred summit showdown atMumbai today.

The Australians skittled out the Caribbeans for a paltry 138 in just 30.4overs before overhauling the revised target of 116 with 6.5 overs to spare toclinch the only silverware that had eluded them till now.

The world champions gave an awesome exhibition of their skills as theyexploited the difficult track at the Brabourne stadium to the hilt to shatterthe Caribbean hopes of retaining the title in a low-scoring floodlit tussle.

The lanky Nathan Bracken (3-22) was the pick of the Australian bowlers whilethe experienced Glenn McGrath and Shane Watson chipped in with two wickets eachto rip through the West Indies batting which caved in meekly after a fine startby the in-from Chris Gayle (37) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (27).

The world champions were 45 for two when a thunderstorm interrupted the gamefor two and quarter hours, resulting in the target being revised to 116 in 35overs.

Opener Watson (57 not out) and Damien Martyn (47 not out) did not take toomany risks as they went about collecting the runs with ease to steer the team toa memorable title triumph.

Watson brought about the winning run by taking a single off Ramnaresh Sarwan,triggering off wild celebrations in the Australian dressing room.

The West Indies innings got off to a rousing start with Gayle and Chanderpaulsmashing the Australian new ball bowlers all over the park.

The left-handed Gayle bludgeoned the formidable Aussie pace attack, inparticular McGrath, with total disdain in his 27-ball 37, that included two hugesixes and four fours, before Bracken castled him with a splendid ball to bringsome sense of parity to the proceedings.

Gayle appeared to put the world champions on the ropes with his cameo knockafter the West Indies opted to bat first on winning the toss on a very humidafternoon.

But once the 27-year-old batsman was dismissed in the 10th over when thescore was 80, the wily Australian bowlers struck blows at regular intervals asthe West Indian middle order collapsed in a heap. The last nine wickets fell forthe addition of only 89 runs in 25 overs.

After an opening partnership of 49 in only 5.1 overs, the remaining wicketsfell like a pack of cards, leaving almost 20 overs unutilised.

The total was the West Indies' seventh lowest in their clashes withAustralia, but when the innings began in a whirlwind fashion, none would haveanticipated what was in store.

It was the left-handed Bracken again who applied the brakes by sending backone-down Sarwan at 65 when the batsman played a leg-side flick shot too earlyand the ball hit the back of the bat before ballooning to mid on fielder BradHogg. Sarwan made 7.

Gayle, who was the more subdued partner in his stand with Chanderpaul,started to belt the ball with utter contempt and was particularly severe onMcGrath, coming in as first change for Brett Lee who was taken off the attackafter three overs.

Gayle started with a splendidly timed flick shot for a six over mid-wicketoff the veteran fast bowler. He then took McGrath to the rafters in the bowler'ssecond over with another six off a pull shot over mid-wicket followed by a slapshot to mid on and a glorious off drive.

After taking 14 off McGrath, Gayle was dismissed by Bracken with a beautifulball that swung away just a bit and crashed on to the stumps as the batsmanlunged forward defensively.

This was the crucial breakthrough for Australia as Gayle, with threecenturies to his credit in the tournament including an unbeaten 133 thatflattened South Africa in the semi-final at Jaipur, looked all set to put on arepeat display and take the final away with his bat.

Things became quieter after the departure of the power-hitter. McGrath wasback to dominating the batsmen with his impeccable line and length against newbatsmen Dwayne Bravo and West Indies skipper Brian Lara, who commenced theinnings needing only 54 runs to become the fifth player in the game to cross10,000 runs in the limited over form of the game.

PTI