Australia win Champions Trophy

Australia have achieved an emphatic victory in the final of the 2006 Champions Trophy, disposing of a lacklustre West Indian side in an 8 wicket victory. The victory ends Australia’s drought in the one major international tournament they have never won, after losing in the semi-finals in both 2002 and 2004. The victory was inspired by a team bowling effort that reduced the West Indies from an impressive start to 138 all out, leaving the Australian top order with a simple chase.

The day began well for Brian Lara’s men, with the West Indian captain winning the toss and electing to bat on a Brabourne Stadium wicket that had been tamed for the benefit of batsmen since it was last used. Lara’s decision looked a good one in the early overs, as Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued their good form at the top of the order with a devastating assault on Australia’s bowlers. The first five overs of the innings yielded 49 runs, as Brett Lee in particular suffered at the hands of the batsmen. Representative of the carnage was a Chanderpaul attempt to smash Lee over midwicket that resulted in an outside edge for six over the head of third man. Every scoring attempt came off, and Lee’s first three overs conceded 36 runs.

Ricky Ponting opted to open the bowling with Nathan Bracken instead of Glenn McGrath for the third time in the tournament, and in his third over the left-arm seamer struck a crucial blow. Chanderpaul attempted another aggressive stroke but could only manage an inside edge onto his own stumps, out for 27 off just 18 balls. Any suggestion that the West Indies would reign in their attacking instincts with the loss of a wicket was quickly dashed, as Sarwan struck his third delivery for a boundary and Chris Gayle greeted Glenn McGrath into the attack with a massive six over long-on. McGrath’s second over yielded another 14 as Gayle continued his tremendous form, and the bowler seemed rattled by the attack.

Where Lee and McGrath had no answers to the assault, Nathan Bracken bowled with intelligence and skill, varying his length and pace and swinging the ball away from the left-handers. He struck for the second time in the 8th over of the innings, inducing a leading edge from Ramnaresh Sarwan with a perfect slower ball and leaving Hogg with a simple catch. Despite the loss of wickets, the West Indies reached 79 at the end of the 9th over and remained in control of proceedings.

The true turning point in the match came in the 10th over, with the dismissal of Chris Gayle with one of the finest deliveries of the tournament. Bracken pitched one on middle and off and it swung away to beat the edge and knock back off stump. Where the loss of Chanderpaul and Sarwan had done little to stem the flow of runs, the dismissal of Gayle brought an immediate halt to the attack and a fatal change in attitude from the West Indians. With the run rate sitting comforably at 8, Lara and Bravo looked to consolidate and succeeded in little other than digging themselves a hole, with the next five overs producing just eight runs.

With the end of Nathan Bracken’s fantastic spell, Glenn McGrath took over as the West Indies chief destroyer. The Australian veteran’s first two overs had gone for 22 runs, but his next five included three maidens, two wickets and just two more runs, as the West Indies fell apart through the middle overs. McGrath never strayed from his preferred line and length and found significant seam movement, first taking the key wicket of Brian Lara for the 18th time in international cricket, and then removing Runuko Morton. Both batsmen played away from their bodies to deliveries that left them slightly off the pitch, and both batsmen were caught by Adam Gilchrist in a manner of dismissal that McGrath has made his own.

At the end of the powerplay overs, the West Indies were 5/103. Most of the wickets had been brought by good bowling to this point, but the batsmen generally brought about their own downfalls in the second half of the innings. Marlon Samuels clipped a half-volley off his pads straight to midwicket off the bowling of Watson, then Watson grabbed his second when Carlton Baugh attempted to pull a delivery that was far too full and missed it by a distance, trapped in front. Dwayne Bravo offered no shot to a regulation delivery from Brad Hogg that would have hit middle stump, and from there the tail died without a whimper.

The West Indies collapsed on several occasions against Australia in the recent DLF Cup in Malaysia, and once again the big stage and some accurate bowling brought out the worst in their batsmen. From 49 at the fall of the first wicket and 80 at the fall of the third, the final score of 138 was well short of competitive on a fairly docile wicket. The lower order failed to apply themselves to see out the remaining overs, and in the end more than 100 deliveries went to waste.

Australia were presented with a regulation chase, but managed to provide themselves with a brief scare prior to the dinner break. Adam Gilchrist edged Ian Bradshaw behind for 2, and then Ricky Ponting was trapped in front by Jerome Taylor for a duck in the very next over. Australia were 2 down with just 13 on the board, and another wicket or two would have built pressure on the lower order and may have created an interesting contest. For the third time in the tournament however, Damien Martyn came to the rescue with a mature innings in a chase, and on this occasion recieved strong support from Shane Watson. The two progressed to the dinner break without incident, before the heavens opened and delayed play for two hours.

There was the brief threat that play would be postponed until Monday as the rain set in, but eventually the clouds blew away and play was free to recommence. Australia’s desperation to finish off the chase was epitomised by Dan Cullen and Andrew Symonds, who went out with the ground staff to help mop up water so the covers could be removed as quickly as possible. When play did finally begin again, it was clear that all fight at left the West Indians. Lacklustre bowling and fielding were backed up by uninspired captaincy from Lara, as Watson and Martyn cruised to the reduced target of 116 without the slightest problem. The inevitable was delayed for a few overs by the tight off-spin of Marlon Samuels, but Watson brought up his second half-century of the tournament before flicking through midwicket for the winning runs.

The reaction from the Australian team on the side of the field was enthusiastic, and during the presentation each Australian player remarked upon the desperation to win the one tournament that had eluded them throughout the years. It was an unstoppable performance from Australia in their final four games of the tournament, winning each of them relatively comfortably, led by consistent performances from their pace attack and solid batting from Damien Martyn in particular. For their part, the West Indies odds for their home World Cup next year are bound to shorten dramatically, despite their disappointing showing at the last hurdle. Jerome Taylor and Chris Gayle had strong tournaments, and victories over Australia, India and South Africa will add confidence to an impressive one day outfit.

The West Indies now travel to Pakistan for a three test series that commences on Saturday, while Australia have a fortnight off before the most anticipated Ashes series in recent memory commences in Brisbane.

West Indies 138 (30.4)
Chris Gayle 37 (27), Shivnarine Chanderpaul 27 (18)
Nathan Bracken 3-22 (6), Shane Watson 2-11 (3), Glenn McGrath 2-24 (7)

Australia 116-2 (28.1)
Shane Watson 57* (88), Damien Martyn 47* (71)
Ian Bradshaw 1-21 (6), Jerome Taylor 1-42 (7)

Australia win by 8 wickets (Duckworth/Lewis method).
Australia win the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.