Congrats Australia

[Dhoni_fan]

As many of you know here I am a very proud Indian fan, but I also know great Cricket when I see it.

Australia have been and IMHO still are a great side, winning 3 World Cup's on the bounce and reaching 4 finals in a row really is quite remarkable!

Ponting today showed what a champion batsman he is, and I hope that he is allowed to continue playing and can bow out on his terms, a legend like him deserves that chance!

I understand how you Australia fans must be feeling now! but even in defeat you have done yourselves proud today the way you made us work hard for every run!

No doubt you will be a tough side to beat in the next World Cup in your home patch!

In many ways it is a shame this was not the final! it was worthy of that billing! but I guess that is how the cookie crumbles!

 

[tooextracool]

Full credit for the way Ponting handled himself in the post match conference. True champion and deserves full credit for his knock today.

However lets stop with the "It was worthy of a final" tripe that seems to be written all over the place. One team was far superior than the other, Australia didn't deserve to make it past the QF's and based on their performances this world cup (beating one test standard team with a majority of their players missing) their campaign has ended the way it should have . With the exception of some rather bizarre and brainless dismissals from some of the Indians, the game was almost always in the bag. AFAIC, any of the other teams remaining in the competition would have beaten Australia in the QFs.

 

[vcs]

One of the greatest streaks in sports comes to an end today.

 

[Nate]

*except England and New Zealand

 

[salman85]

I'm not emotional or philosophical after reading the OP.Is that wrong?

 

[wpdavid]

Full credit for the way Ponting handled himself in the post match conference. True champion and deserves full credit for his knock today.

However lets stop with the "It was worthy of a final" tripe that seems to be written all over the place. One team was far superior than the other, Australia didn't deserve to make it past the QF's and based on their performances this world cup (beating one test standard team with a majority of their players missing) their campaign has ended the way it should have . With the exception of some rather bizarre and brainless dismissals from some of the Indians, the game was almost always in the bag. AFAIC, any of the other teams remaining in the competition would have beaten Australia in the QFs.

The England squad say 'hi'. 6-1 and all that.

So do NZ, based on the group game, and WI.

Agreed that this wasn't a classic, obviously.

 

[Nate]

The England squad say 'hi'. 6-1 and all that.

So do NZ, based on the group game, and WI.

Agreed that this wasn't a classic, obviously.

WI are gone, but awta.

 

[wpdavid]

WI are gone, but awta.

Ah, I misunderstood TEC. Thought he meant any of the teams who reached the QF stage.

 

[tooextracool]

The England squad say 'hi'. 6-1 and all that.

So do NZ, based on the group game, and WI.

Agreed that this wasn't a classic, obviously.

I think a NZ side with Mills and Oram would have a pretty good chance of beating this Australia side.

WI, i addressed earlier isnt left in the competition.

England would beat Australia 9/10 times in these conditions. Losing to Australia in Australia 6-1 is irrelevant for several reasons, most notably because their bowling attack is more suited to home conditions (and Id argue those are the only conditions they are suited for), the series was by and large a pointless one with a majority of players jaded after already accomplishing the big hurdle -the Ashes and our entire first choice attack was missing for the majority of those games.

 

[smash84]

In retrospect I think it hurt Australia that their bowling attack was so uni-dimensional. It didn't help either that White's form was worse than piss poor

 

[Fusion]

I was coming on here to create just this thread, D_F beat me to it. Love them or hate them, no one can deny their greatness. They have had amazing success and my team can even achieve half of what they did, I’d be happy. What champs!

 

[Tendulkar_200*]

I have commented on another thread how an Aus-India final would have been fantastic. We are the favourites, they are the holders for so many years!

India and Australia were the 3 strongest teams in this world cup in my opinion.

I think Australia were a credit to their nation and it was nice to see Punter score a 100! I think they might have got a tad complacent coming into the world cup after stuffing england in the ODI's after the ashes. When they came up against serious opposition they appeared a bit under prepared to me.

 

[Jono]

Tremendous run from the champion team.

Ponting also, what a gun.

 

[Ikki]

I think a NZ side with Mills and Oram would have a pretty good chance of beating this Australia side.

If we had Harris and Bollinger fit we would have walked this WC as well. Hauritz would have also made the side much better balanced.

Harris
Bollinger
Lee
Johnson
Hauritz

Easily the best attack IMO.

 

[Jono]

You would have walked this World Cup?

Australia would still have been ****house against spin. Unless you're also including having Symonds and Hayden back in the Australian team too?

 

[smash84]

If we had Harris and Bollinger fit we would have walked this WC as well. Hauritz would have also made the side much better balanced.

Harris
Bollinger
Lee
Johnson
Hauritz

Easily the best attack IMO.

Dougie is good but I am not too sure about Hauritz or Harris being that good. Besides I don't think they would have done that well against India........

 

[Ikki]

IMO Harris is even better than Bollinger. Even Hauritz is bound to get a few wickets - especially with the pressure the other 4 will create - and he can certainly score some runs.

Watson
Haddin
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey M
Hussey D
White/Smith
Johnson
Hauritz
Lee
Harris
Bollinger

Longass tail too.

 

[blahblahblah]

atb for future guys

 

[tooextracool]

If we had Harris and Bollinger fit we would have walked this WC as well. Hauritz would have also made the side much better balanced.

Harris
Bollinger
Lee
Johnson
Hauritz

Easily the best attack IMO.

I don't doubt that that would make the side stronger and may have made them more competitive. But the basic issues are still there and I think they have 4 years to rectify them. The problem isn't just the one dimensional-ness of the bowling (Not to mention that Hauritz is pretty ordinary too), the problem is that they were carrying a number of aging players (really the last few people of the golden generation - Husseys, Ponting, Lee etc) and there simply wasn't enough young legs to drive them forward. The other problem is that their planning was poor and their plan A (all out attack with pace) was simply a poor choice for the conditions. They didnt have a back up plan and they made some criminal mistakes throughout the competition by not experimenting with some of their other players in the squad. Its unfortunate, but the decline should have been visible to everyone well before the start of the world cup.

 

[shankar]

So the coming WC final will be the first since 1983 to not be associated with Australia in any way.