All Time Great World Cup: An ODI Championship

[Wilted]

Round 6 Results

Round 6

NZ defeated RSA

ENG defeated IND

SLdefeated AUS

WI defeated PAK

Final Group Stage Standings

Group A	Played	Wins	N/R	NRR	Total
New Zealand	6	5		0.59	10
England	6	3		0.27	6
South Africa	6	2		-0.19	4
India	6	2		-0.75	4

Group B	Played	Wins	N/R	NRR	Total
Australia	6	4		0.10	8
West Indies	6	3	1	0.73	7
Pakistan	6	3		-0.30	6
Sri Lanka	6	1	1	-0.37	3

Tournament Stat Leaders

Batsman	Runs	Bowler	Wickets
S Fleming	494	J Srinath	14
K Pietersen	421	D Bravo	14
R Ponting	400	S Warne	14
Q de Kock	359	T Boult	13
R Taylor	344	F Mahroof +1 other	13

End of the Group Stage
After 24 matches, the Group Stage is finally over and the top two teams will advance to the next round. The top team of Group A, New Zealand, will play their semi-final against the second-placed team of Group B, West Indies. Similarly, Australia will face off against England in the second semi-final.

Four out of the five top-scoring batsmen are from teams that made it to the next round and four out of the top five wicket-takers are from the top teams too. The team that scored the most runs in total in the Group Stage was England with 1781 runs. The team that scored the least amount of runs was the West Indies with 1179 runs, who found themselves chasing lower scores more often than not. West Indies also had the least runs conceded off their bowling with 1179 runs while India had the most runs scored off their bowling with 1769 runs.

Just like at the halfway point of the Group Stage, the leading runscorer, Fleming, also had faced the most balls. He faced 548 deliveries, with an average of more than 90 deliveries faced per match. There have been three batsmen who have been not out at the end of their innings three times. The most impressive of these is Lloyd, who faced 182 deliveries for his three dismissals. Even though Fleming had the most runs, with an extra not out up his sleeve, Pietersen had the highest average in the Group Stage, scoring 494 runs @105.25. He's the only batsman with a 100+ average at this point in the tournament.

As for the fastest scorer of the Group Stage, Ambrose scored 20 runs with a strike rate of 222.22. The fastest scorer with 100+ runs to his name is Dravid who scored 140 runs with a strike rate of 126.13. Kohli scored the most 50s with four and four batsmen scored two hundreds. Tayor and Fleming both scored two centuries and three half-centuries to have the most 50+ scores. Pietersen's 178* remains the highest individual total. Boult was the lowest-scoring batsman, being dismissed for a duck in his two innings. Currently, Ponting has the most 4s with 62 and Fleming has the most 6s with 10. Fleming has the most boundaries overall with 71.

Watson has the best bowling average, taking one wicket at 13.00, then Gayle has three wickets at 14.67. For bowlers who have bowled 10+ overs though, Boult had the best bowling average of the Group Stage with 13 wickets at 17.54. Watson and Gayle had the best strike rate too but for bowlers with 10+ overs, Johnson has a strike rate of 20. Three bowlers took 5 wicket hauls, the best figures still belonging to Lee with 5-26. After six matches, only three bowlers had bowled the maximum 60 overs, Jadeja, Kumble and Pollock (Warne bowled one single ball less). Root's three-run over still makes him the most economical bowler but for those who've bowled 10+ overs, Marshall is the cheapest with just 4.32 runs coming off his overs.

Semi Final Fixtures

Semi 1	Semi 2
NZ vs WI	AUS vs ENG
WI vs NZ	ENG vs AUS

Just like the Group Stage, each semi-final will consist of one home game and one away game for each team. In the case where each team has a win after both matches, the team with the better NRR from the semis will proceed to the final. If NRR is tied, then the top-ranked team of the Group Stage will proceed (as is the case in tied semi-finals in ICC tournaments)

[Wilted]

Semi-Final 1A: New Zealand vs West Indies
New Zealand XI: S Fleming, M Guptil, K Williamson (c), R Taylor, M Crowe, B McCullum (wk), R Hadlee, D Vettori, K Mills, S Bond, T Boult
West Indies XI: C Gayle, D Haynes, V Richards, B Lara, C Lloyd (c), D Bravo, D Ramdin, M Marshall, J Garner, M Holding, C Walsh
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.

New Zealand
A packed Eden Park crowd waited for the first ball to be bowled. Fleming, the most prolific batsman of the ATG World Cup, marked his guard as Garner strolled to the top of his run-up. The crowd hushed as the West Indian quickly steamed in to bowl the first delivery of the finals. The ball was wide, short and Fleming didn't even offer a shot. Similar balls were bowled for the next three overs, wide and short. The Kiwi batsmen were not bothered and were happy to leave the non-threatening deliveries. The final ball of the third over did get the crowd on their feet though. Instead of being short and wide, Garner pitched one up that swung in sharply, catching Guptill off guard. The white ball thudded into his front pad and Garner and his teammates went up for an appeal. A disappointed groan went around the ground when the umpire raised slowly raised his finger. The replay showed the ball pitching on the off stump and moving to take the middle stump. There was no respite for New Zealand when Fleming flicked a ball off his pads through mid-wicket but misjudged Bravo's slower delivery and instead scooped it straight deep square leg. Taylor met with the same fate the next over and Garner had claimed his second wicket. New Zealand was in strife at 3-12 off five overs.

Deftly guiding a fuller ball through backward point, Crowe picked up the first boundary for New Zealand. Crowe and Williamson spent the next 15 over slowly putting on 50 runs. The West Indies were giving the batsman no room to move. Coming around the wicket, Walsh bowled a shorter ball at Williamson's ribs, which he gloved to short cover, becoming the fourth batsman to fall. It took New Zealand 30 overs to reach 100 runs and West Indies had a complete stranglehold on the match. Holding found McCullum's edge, bringing New Zealand to five wickets down. The only one who seemed to be able to stand up to the relentless pace was Crowe who had just passed 50 off 96 balls.

Coming to the crease at number seven, Hadlee was the first batsman to score with intent. He scored three boundaries in his quick 20-run stint, but it turned out to be little more than a flash in the pan when he played his first defensive shot off Holding, which of course found an edge. Led by Crowe, New Zealand limped to 151 runs by the 40th over, losing Vettori on the final ball of over 39. With only the tail to bat alongside, Crowe aimed to face as many balls as possible and put as many of them to the rope as possible. The ball hit Crowe and Crowe hit air more times than the ball actually reached the boundary. An almost ironic cheer went up around the ground as Mills tried to evade a bouncer but top-edged it for New Zealand's only 6 in the innings. The cheer the crowd gave the following over was from the heart. On 98, Crowe pushed the ball through the covers for two. Bruised and battered, he raised his helmet and bat to the crowd. While his team struggled throughout this innings, he stood tall, giving his nation a glimmer of hope against the full force of fiery Calypso Cricket. An exhausted Crowe finally fell LBW to Holding in the final over but not before taking 12 runs off it. New Zealand finished with a final score of 212, led by Crowe's 119 off 163.

West Indies
The West Indies were very aware of the strong position they were in but fully understood the conditions they had just bowled in. Not wanting to sabotage their innings like New Zealand, Gayle and Haynes were extremely careful in their approach. Even Gayle had reigned in his shotmaking, only scoring the team's first boundary in the eighth over. The slow but sure approach gradually gave way to steady and confident. The openers reached 50 runs before Gayle played one over-zealous shot, falling victim to Boult. Haynes continued the steady approach, picking off boundaries from any ball that strayed off-line. Boult struck again, this time with a full inswinger that clattered into Haynes' stumps. West Indies was still in control of the match but New Zealand was crawling back into it.

Viv took on Bond, launching him for three 4s and a 6 off one over. Against spin, was another story altogether. After three swings and misses, Richards finally got bat to ball but it was only a feather that went straight into McCullum's gloves. What was keeping the West Indies in a promising position was that every batsman had made a start. At the halfway point of the 50 overs, the West Indies needed just 100 more runs and had seven wickets in hand, surely more than enough to see them over the line with crucial overs to spare.

After watching so many batsmen struggle and fail in the overcast conditions, Lara and Lloyd showed what class performers they were. There were only 20 runs left in the chase when Vettori bamboozled Lloyd with one that spun the other way. The next ball had Bravo fishing but the only one catching anything was McCullum behind the stumps. Vettori's hattrick ball would have to wait until the next over. The wait had the crowds on their feet with anticipation. With the match all but over, a hattrick would at least send the home crowd on a less sour note. There were six fielders hovering under Ramdin's bat, Vettori looped a simple off break above the batsman's eye level to draw him into a shot. Ramdin merely blocked it, all the anticipation in the crowd turned to frustration. The only noise coming from the crowd was the Caribbean supporters who were already in party mode. Lara made his 50 just a few balls before he brought up the winning runs.

NZ 8-212
M Crowe 119, K Williamson 22
M Holding 3-75, J Garner 2-37

WI 5-213
B Lara 54*, C Lloyd 42
D Vettori 3-56, T Boult 2-31

New Zealand lost to West Indies by 5 wickets
M Crowe was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Semi-Final 1B: West Indies vs New Zealand
West Indies XI: C Gayle, D Haynes, V Richards, B Lara, C Lloyd (c), D Bravo, D Ramdin, M Marshall, J Garner, M Holding, C Walsh
New Zealand XI: S Fleming, N Astle, K Williamson (c), R Taylor, M Crowe, B McCullum (wk), R Hadlee, D Vettori, K Mills, S Bond, T Boult
West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first.

New Zealand made one change from their first semi-final loss, bringing in Astle for Guptil to try to improve their batting performance. As expected, West Indies are unchanged.

New Zealand
New Zealand needed a big to improve their NRR deficit. The start of this match seemed to mirror the first semi-final in the worst way possible for New Zealand, only this time the crowd were thrice as loud and cheering for the opposition. The first couple of overs were quiet but Garner had the Kensington Oval on its feet when he removed Fleming for just seven runs. Garner then found Williamson's edge in the same over but the ball barely brushed Richards' outstretched fingers. The next ball that came to Viv Richards in the slips was a far simpler catch off Holdings' bowling, which sent Astle back to the pavilion. The next over came and went and with the first ball of Holdings' following over, he removed Taylor for a golden duck and was on a hattrick. The hattrick ball was fast and aimed at the ribs of Crowe, hoping to find a catch in the many fielders around the bat. No such catch happened as Crowe simply let the ball hit him on the body. Thankfully he was unharmed. Garner bowled a similar short ball to Williamson and was more successful, finding his edge as he tried to fend the ball away. New Zealand found themselves in the same, dire situation as their last match. Sitting at 4-31 after 10 overs, they might as well have given up any hope of progressing to the finals.

New Zealand's beacon of hope, Crowe, was unable to repeat his first semi-final fightback, falling to Holding for just two runs. A yorker rattled Hadlee's stumps and New Zealand was staring down at the possibility of being rolled for under 100 runs. McCullum and Vettori both fell to Bravo's crafty bowling and all New Zealand was left with were tail-enders and a mountain of embarrassment. Mills and Bond put on a surprising stand that lasted almost 15 overs but was only worth 25 runs. Mills was finally dismissed by Marshall for a 53-ball cameo of 18 runs and New Zealand were bundled out for the lowest total of the whole entire tournament: 96. It was the lowest total New Zealand had ever made against the West Indies.

West Indies
When there are only 90 runs to chase in 50 overs, there's not much that can happen. Mills took advantage of the carefree approach the West Indies' chase, taking three wickets but in the end, West Indies walked away with a clear and utter victory over the top-ranked team from the Group Stage, giving them the first spot in the final 2.

New Zealand walked into the semi-final as the most successful team in the Group Stage. They had won five out of six matches, two of the top five scoring batsmen were from their lineup and both Vettori and Boult were amongst the best bowlers of the tournament. New Zealand was far from being a favourite to win going into this tournament but quickly showed they were strong contenders. It was a shame the West Indies hit peak performance and dealt them two agonising defeats to end their tournament.

NZ 96
K Mills 18, D Vettori 17
M Holding 3-19, M Marshall 3-30

WI 4-97
C Gayle 33, D Haynes 23
K Mills 3-26, T Boult 1-25

West Indies defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets
M Marshall was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Semi-Final 2A: Australia vs England
Australia XI: M Hayden, A Gilchrist (wk), R Ponting (c), S Watson, S Waugh, M Bevan, A Symonds, M Johnson, B Lee, S Warne, G McGrath
England XI: K Pietersen, G Gooch, J Root, J Bairstow, B Stokes, J Buttler (wk), I Botham, A Flintoff (c), G Swann, J Anderson
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.

Both Australia and England went with familiar lineups, with minor tweaks and rotations.

Australia
A packed Optus Stadium in Western Australia cheered as Hayden and Gilchrist walked out to the middle. In typical Aussie fashion, a polite golf clap and some muffled jeers greeted the English XI. Jimmy Anderson ran in to bowl the first delivery to a cacophony of seats being hit and inflatable clapping sticks. He bowled it full, wide and Hayden barely regarded the delivery before thinking of the next. Anderson's next delivery was straighter and back of a length, Hayden leant onto his backfoot and punished the ball through the cover for the first ball of the match. Flintoff took the first over from the Justin Langer Stand end, and Gilchrist took no time to begin an aggressive streak of boundaries. No matter where Flintoff bowled, Gilchrist managed to find the middle of the bat and the rope. Having missed out on most innings this tournament, Gilchrist was intent on turning this innings into a big score. The onslaught from the Aussie openers continued, bringing up their 50-run partnership in just six overs.

Yorkers, bouncers, straight balls, wide deliveries, inswingers and off-cutters all ended up finding the boundary. Hayden brought up his 50 off 38 with a 6 over point. Gilchrist had slowed his barrage down a bit by this stage so his 50 took a few more overs, scoring his half-ton off 44 balls. The only bowler that wasn't facing the full brunt of the Aussie attack was Swann, who was keeping it together with an economy rate of four runs per over while the rest were cruising above eight. The English bowlers were having no luck so Bairstow at short mid-wicket took things into his own hands and with a brilliant dive in the field, which Gilchrist tried to sneak a single off, and a direct hit sent Hayden packing. His 81 off 55 had set Australia up for what could be the biggest total of the tournament. Ponting took the start of his innings slowly until Botham tried to come around the wicket to him. Botham's short ball gamble against one of history's greatest pull/hook players went as poorly as you'd expect with 16 runs coming from the over. On 95, Gilchrist tried to go over the top to bring up his maiden ATG century. A rush of blood against Swann only found a leading edge that flew straight to Gooch at deep mid-of. Instead of Gilchrist walking back to the sheds though, the ball slipped through Gooch's fingers and rolled to the rope for 4. The next ball, Gilchrist pushed a ball between cover and point for a single, bringing up his first century of the tournament.

Ponting reached his 50 off 52 balls and not long after Gilchrist reached 100, he was raising his bat for 150. His innings so far included 25 4s and four 6s. At the 40-over mark of the match, England had already conceded 317 runs. Flintoff finally broke through the rampaging partnership, which had ballooned to 181 runs, hitting Ponting on the front pad. Ponting finished his innings with 78 runs off 64 balls. Keeping the momentum of the previous partnership, Watson got creative with some strokes, including a drive that went through first slips legs (I'm not sure how that works either). The highest score for Australia against, the highest score in ATG World Cup and finally Australia's highest ODI score records were all broken in the next few overs. Ironically the person Gilchrist took that last record from was standing down the other end. As glorious as Gilchrist's innings was, it did not end with a fairytale finish. Mistiming an advance down the wicket, Gilchrist misjudged the length of a Swann delivery and was stumped by quick glovework from Buttler. Gilchrist was dismissed for 189 off 141 balls and hit 32 boundaries, including four 6s. The shots didn't stop there. Watson continued finding the boundary before being caught off Stokes' bowling. In the final over, Waugh brought up Australia's 400th run and a flick off the pads for 4 from Bevan finished Australia's innings with 4-405, the highest total in the ATG World Cup!

England
Not being strangers to high totals this tournament, boasting the highest total until now, England should be confident enough to make the Aussie bowlers work during this chase, if not win the match itself. The English openers were content to push around for a few easy runs wherever they could find gaps but didn't look to take on the attack. Pietersen was especially cautious, scoring his first eight runs in 25 balls. In the end, Pietersen could've caused more damage in three balls than he did in the 30 he faced before knicking one to the slips off Lee. By the 15th over, the required run rate for England to win had already crept up to above 10 runs per over.

Clouds began to fill the sky as the sun set behind the stadium walls, casting shadows across the pitch. The overcast conditions and shadows obscuring the pitch made things even more difficult for the English batsmen. Warne picked up the wickets of both Root and Gooch, the latter just missing out on a half-century. While the final score of 405 was well out of reach, Bairstow came in looking to bat like England still had a chance. He raced to 56 runs off 33 deliveries before becoming Warne's fourth victim. England still needed 175 runs off the last 10 overs but that wasn't stopping Buttler and Stokes from trying their best to thrash the Aussie bowlers around. Knowing how important NRR was to keep their hopes of making to the ATG World Cup Final, they ensured no run went begging.

In the mad dash to the finish line, Lee picked up both Buttler and Botham but Stokes remained headstrong and made it to 50 runs off just 26 balls. Stokes knew he was riding his luck and the luck ran out when an inswinger from Lee knocked his off stump out of the ground. The next ball had Swann caught behind and Lee's next ball was a plumb LBW. The only thing stopping this from being a hat trick was that wicket number two was a no-ball and number three was a free hit. Johnson finished off the last two wickets, ending the match with an Australian win. Australia was now one step closer to making it to the final.

AUS 4-405
A Gilchrist 189, M Hayden 81
G Swann 1-66, B Stokes 1-83

ENG 269
B Stokes 67, J Bairstow 56
B Lee 4-34, S Warne 4-63

Australia defeated England by 136 runs
A Gilchrist was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

Semi-Final 2B: England vs Australia
England XI: K Pietersen, G Gooch, J Root, J Trott, J Bairstow (wk), B Stokes, A Flintoff (c), I Botham, G Swann, D Gough, J Anderson
Australia XI: M Hayden, A Gilchrist (wk), R Ponting (c), S Watson, S Waugh, M Bevan, A Symonds, M Johnson, B Lee, S Warne, G McGrath
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.

Of course, Australia went with an unchanged XI but England has tried to bolster the bowling lineup by dropping their keeper, Buttler and bringing back Gouhy. Naturally, Bairstow will take over as gloveman.

Australia
The Oval was overflowing with eager spectators. Those who couldn't manage to get in filled the surrounding streets and watched on big screens that were erected around the ground. Unlike the clattering noise that could be heard across Perth Stadium, a hush went around the ground when Jimmy Anderson trotted in to bowl the first delivery. He hit the right line and length as always and repeated the same delivery five more times to bowl out a maiden. Opening from the other end was Gough, returning after being dropped from the XI, who was hit for 4 by Gilchrist off his first ball. The first excitement of the afternoon for the English came from Anderson who went up for LBW with a confident shout. The umpire made a wise decision by giving Gilchrist not out, confirmed by a replay that showed the ball missing off-stump by no more than a few centimetres. The last time Hayden and Gilchrist were out in the middle, Gilchrist ran Hayden out after a titanic partnership. This time however it was Hayden that ran Gilchrist out after adding just 12 runs to the total. Ponting took a liking to the English quicks, scoring 24 off his first 15 deliveries. After 10 overs, Australia was 1-49 and England knew they had to take wickets quickly to have a remote chance of overtaking the NRR.

Scoring predominantly off beautiful square drives, Ponting reached 50 in as many balls while Hayden down the other end was scoring with a strike rate in the 40s and had scored only two boundaries in 20 overs. A common trend of this tournament is when batsmen score slowly as Hayden was, they were doomed to depart shortly. Sure enough, Hayden was dismissed by Swann for 27 off 64. Watson and Ponting's partnership was a different pace altogether, the pair scored 50 runs in about six overs before Watson holed out to deep cover off Swann. Waugh was unable to get off the mark as he was bowled in the same over. Swann had all three of England's wickets. One thing Swann couldn't do was prevent Ponting's century, which he brought up with a 4 off 82 balls. While not in a position to score 400+ like the last match, Ponting had set Australia up for a total that England would struggle to chase down as quickly as they needed to.

Bevan made the most of being back in the team, scoring boundaries as often as Ponting, though he was only able to score 38 runs before being caught off Gough's bowling. Symonds fell for a duck next over and Australia's tail had been exposed with seven overs still to go. A good bowling effort could see Australia restricted to 250 or less. Unfortunately, Mitchell Johnson has a habit of breaking English hopes as he scored more than half of the runs in the final 50-run stand, including five 4s and a 6 to finish the innings. Australia finished with 285 runs on the board. To reverse the NRR, and ultimately make it to the ATG World Cup Final, England will need to chase that total in no more than 30 overs. That's 9.53 runs per over. A big ask but one that Pietersen and co. will surely have their best crack at it.

England
Together, Gooch and Pietersen put on nine runs and England had begun the impossible task of chasing down the total in just 30 overs. McGrath always had a reputation for being difficult to score against and proved this by removing both openers after they took him to the boundary multiple boundaries in one over. The next batsman in, Trott, lasted only two balls before becoming McGrath's next victim. At 3-66 off 10 overs, England realised that the task ahead of them was simply too much. Root and Bairstow looked to put their efforts towards securing a win to end their tournament on a high note. Unfortunately, Bairstow never looked comfortable, most of his runs coming from streaky edges. His innings had one too many streaky edges when his last edge off McGrath found its way to Warne's hands.

England's woes didn't stop as the light began to dwindle and clouds began to set in. While Root was scoring steadily at one end, Warne removed Stokes. Lee had Root in the next over and following that, Warne had Botham. The rest of the tail fell quickly, leaving not only the English team disappointed in their performance but the tens of thousands of fans who had shown up. While their semi-final performance left a lot to be desired, England was one of the most exciting teams to watch throughout the tournament with their fast-scoring style of batting.

AUS 6-285
R Ponting 147*, M Bevan 38
G Swann 3-68, 2-55

ENG 125
J Root 36, G Gooch 23
G McGrath 4-31, B Lee 3-16

England lost to Australia by 160 runs
R Ponting was awarded Man of the Match

[Wilted]

ATG World Cup Final A: West Indies vs Australia
West Indies XI: C Gayle, D Haynes, V Richards, B Lara, C Lloyd (c), D Bravo, D Ramdin (wk), M Marshall, J Garner, M Holding, C Walsh
Australia XI: M Hayden, A Gilchrist (wk), R Ponting (c), S Watson, S Waugh, M Bevan, A Symonds, M Johnson, B Lee, S Warne, G McGrath
Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Both West Indies and Australia comfortably defeated their semi-final opponents showing there is no doubt that both teams deserve to be in the ATG World Cup Final. Neither team has made any changes to their lineup since the semis. Having played each other in the Group Stage of the tournament, West Indies and Australia would have an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of their opposition. Australia won the first encounter, relying on both their batting and bowling prowess but West Indies were triumphant in their second meeting and have only improved their batting and bowling since.

West Indies
First blood went to the Aussie bowlers, removing Gayle in the opening over for two runs. McGrath had two in two overs when he found the edge of Lara. Haynes understandably took on the role of the team's defensive backbone while Viv Richards continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over. An inswinging yorker from Lee just about broke Hayens' toe, causing him to limp off after being given out LBW. Just like McGrath, Lee picked up a second wicket in the second over of his spell, cartwheeling Lloyds stumps. The only person keeping the West Indies together was Richards as the West Indies collapsed to 4-74.

Lee's path of destruction continued bowling trapping Bravo LBW and then knicking Ramdin off in consecutive balls. Lee had four wickets in just three overs. Joining in on the carnage next was Warne who got Marshall caught off an inside edge that popped up off his pads. Viv kept things hopeful though, posting his 50 from 58 balls and bringing the team's total up to 100. Though Richards struggled against Warne, barely managing to survive in some cases, he thrived against the quicks, off of which he scored most of his runs. Richards and Garner shook hands when they reached their 50-run partnership. The pair shared a laugh when they realised that Garner had only made six of the runs in their partnership.

A 6 over point off Symonds brought up Viv's century, his second of the tournament. The partnership continued in a steady fashion towards 100, Garner facing as few balls as possible. Out of the 100 runs in the partnership, Garner had made seven of them, meaning Richards had made 50 runs while his partners only scored a lonely single. Viv surpassed the highest score made in a match between West Indies and Australia before he mistimed a shot off Symonds that was easily caught by Waugh. His final score was 167 runs off 171 balls. McGrath took the last two wickets and West Indies had set Australia 228 to win.

Australia
Garner and Walsh started the defence by peppering the Aussies with short balls. They produced edges, LBW shouts and a number of near misses but ultimately it led to wickets taken. The opening bowlers were able to peg down Hayden, restricting him to just 6 runs off 33 balls, but once Gilchrist survived the opening barrage, he seemed intent on making this a short chase. Gilchrist made a 50 off 55 balls and with Hayden beginning to up his ante, Australia was in control of the match.

None of the Caribbean bowlers had any luck whatsoever. Gilchrist made his second 100 in just two games and Hayden soon had his own half-century. Holding forced an error from Hayden, dismissing Hayden for 73, but it was too little too late. Bravo ensured Ponting didn't stick around to the end but Watson ended the match the next over with 11 overs to spare.

WI 228
V Richards 167, D Haynes 17
G McGrath 4-29, B Lee 4-55

AUS 2-231
A Gilchrist 116*, M Hayden 73
M Holding 1-48, D Bravo 1-71

West Indies lost to Australia by 8 wickets
A Gilchrist was awarded Man of the Match.

[Wilted]

ATG World Cup Final A: West Indies vs Australia
Australia XI: M Hayden, A Gilchrist (wk), R Ponting (c), S Watson, S Waugh, M Bevan, A Symonds, M Johnson, B Lee, S Warne, G McGrath
West Indies XI: C Gayle, D Haynes, V Richards, B Lara, C Lloyd (c), D Bravo, D Ramdin (wk), M Marshall, J Garner, M Holding, C Ambrose
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.

Australia has gone with their tried and tested lineup and the only change the West Indies made was bringing in Ambrose for Walsh, hoping the change will bring them success.

West Indies
A packed MCG crowd was waiting for McGrath to bowl the first ball of the match. Australia already has one hand on the trophy thanks to their victory in the Caribbean, but the West Indies bowling attack has shown they can easily tear through the best batting lineups. McGrath bowled the first ball full and wide, hoping to drag Gayle into a reckless shot. Gayle easily guided it down to third man for an easy single to start the match. Gayle and Haynes were careful to the start of their innings, trying to prove they could put on a decent opening partnership. After the first few overs, batting became easier and both batsmen began scoring boundaries more frequently. For the first time in what feels like quite a while, Gayle and Haynes brought up a 50-run partnership. Johnson came on to replace McGrath and immediately had an effect with the change of angle to the right-handed Haynes, finding a feather of an edge through to Gilchrist. Gayle struggled against the left arm quick too, eventually popping up a catch off a short-pitched delivery.

Coming on to give the main quicks a rest, Symonds picked up the unlikely wicket of Richards. Lara and Lloyd made steady progress against the Aussie bowlers but didn't play without errors. Thankfully for the West Indian pair, the errors only ever resulted in half a shout of a thick edge that went to the boundary. Lloyd was scoring much quicker than Lara, bringing up his 50 in 46 balls. When Lara brought his own half-century up, the West Indies were 3-182 with 17 overs left. Lloyd and Lara were perfectly poised to bring the innings home with some fireworks.

Warne took Lara's wicket in the last ball of his 10th over. The wicket didn't stop the flow of runs, especially from Lloyd who brought up his first century of the tournament in its last match. Unfortunately, Lloyd was unable to go on any longer after he scooped one straight to a fielder off Lee. Bravo came to the crease knowing he had no time to build an innings and decided to launch 6s as soon as possible was his best option. His 32 off 16 ensured the West Indies would have a solid total to defend. Johnson was literally unplayable in the last over of the innings, only two runs were scored off it and the final four balls of the match failed to connect bat to ball. In the end, the West Indies finished with a total of 7-279.

Australia
While the score to win the match for Australia was 280, to ensure they remain on a NRR higher than the West Indies, they needed to reach at least 220 runs. After scoring 10 off Garner's the first over, it was clear Hayden and Gilchrist wanted to simply win this outright. The only chance that Hayden gave in the opening overs was a thick edge that was wide of first slip that went for 4. The pair easily reached yet another 50-run partnership.

The breakthrough came in the form of a fast yorker from Garner, which mangled Gilchrist's stumps. Hayden brought up his half-century off a very thick edge that went over the top of deep point. The steady flow of runs was not quite enough to stop the required run rate from creeping higher. By the 30th over, Australia needed 7+ runs per over. A 22-run over from Ponting brought things back in favour of the Aussies.

Hayden tried matching Ponting's intensity but only managed to get himself out to Holding. A push from Ponting for two brought up 22 for Australia, bringing an eruption of applause from the crowd. Australia was now guaranteed to beat the West Indies on NRR, confirming them as ATG World Cup Champions! The match was not yet over and Ponting, who was nearing another 100, was determined to win the final outright. A backfoot slash over cover brought up the Aussie captain's third century of the tournament, the only batsman to have achieved that feat. With the scores level, Ponting went to push the ball to a gap on the legside, instead, he mistimed a slower ball which hit him directly on the front pad. Instead of raising his finger to give Ponting out, the umpire put his arm out to signal a no-ball for the most anticlimatic finish to a match possible.

WI 7-279
C Lloyd 106, B Lara 54
M Johnson 3-54, B Lee 2-78

AUS 3-280
R Ponting 128*, M Hayden 90
M Holding 2-54, J Garner 1-43

Australia defeated West Indies by 7 wickets.
R Ponting was awarded Man of the Match.

Australia are the ATG World Cup Champions!

[Wilted]

A Quick Summary and Some Honorable Mentions
With three out of the top five run-scorers and three out of the top five wicket-takers, it's clear to see why Australia was so successful and able to take home the title. They were one of the favourites to win, alongside South Africa and West Indies, but showed both in the group stage and the finals, where they seemed to find another gear, they were cut above the rest of the nations.

Leading from the front was the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting. Amassing 774 runs across 10 matches, scoring three 100s (including his match-winning knock in the last final) and being the only batsman to finish the tournament with an average over 100, he was unanimously declared Player of the Tournament.

Across the tournament some of the top players around the world stood above the rest, displaying feats of dominance against cricketing greats from throughout history. A selection of those players was named in the ATG World Cup Squad:

ATG World Cup XI

K Pietersen - 469 runs @93.80, 2x 100s and 1x50, high score of 178*
S Fleming - 506 runs @72.29, 2x 100s and 3x50s, high score of 149*
R Ponting (c) - 774 runs @110.57, 3x100s and 4x50s, high score of 147*
R Taylor - 345 runs @57.50, 2x 100s and 3x 50s, high score of 124
M Hayden - 569 runs @71.13, 2x 100s and 3x 50s, high score of 131*
Q de Kock (wk) - 299 runs @71.80, 1x 100 and 3x 50, high score of 172
I Khan - 230 runs @44.00, 2x 50s, high score 72 // 8 wickets @25.50, economy 5.19, best figures 2-32
D Bravo - 18 wickets @25.11, economy 5.34, best figures 5-36
T Boult - 16 wickets @17.25, economy 4.60, best figures 4-63
B Lee - 25 wickets @18.16, economy 5.32, best figures 5-26
S Warne - 23 wickets @21.65, economy 5.20, best figures 4-54

Rest of Squad:
V Kohli
V Richards
D Vettori
G McGrath

Stats, Stats and More Stats

Top 10 Run Scorers

Player	Runs	Average
R Ponting	774	110.57
M Hayden	569	71.13
S Fleming	506	72.29
A Gilchrist	490	54.44
V Richards	486	48.60
K Pietersen	469	93.80
B Lara	428	53.50
G Gooch	398	56.86
J Root	370	52.86
Q de Kock	359	71.80

Next 10:

R Taylor	345	57.50
V Kohli	329	82.25
C Lloyd	318	45.43
C Gayle	312	31.20
S Tendulkar	310	51.67
K Williamson	302	50.33
H Amla	290	48.33
J Trott	275	45.83
J Kallis	272	45.33
Y Khan	264	52.80

Highest Scores (highest score of each batsman counted)

Player	Highest Score
A Gilchrist	189
K Pietersen	178*
Q de Kock	172
V Richards	167
S Fleming	149*
R Ponting	147*
K Williamson	134*
M Hayden	131*
R Taylor	124
J Root	121*
M Crowe	119
B Lara	117
G Gooch	108
C Lloyd	106
J Trott	103*
C Gayle	101

Most Boundaries

Player	4s	6s	Total
R Ponting	117	8	125
A Gilchrist	67	9	76
M Hayden	69	5	74
S Fleming	62	10	72
K Pietersen	65	4	69
Q de Kock	56	6	62
V Richards	55	7	62
B Lara	56	4	60
J Root	55	3	58
G Gooch	55	1	56

Top 10 Wicket Takers

Player	Wickets	Average
B Lee	25	18.16
S Warne	23	21.65
M Holding	19	25.26
G McGrath	18	20.67
D Bravo	18	25.11
G Swann	17	27.00
T Boult	16	17.25
D Vettori	15	22.60
K Mills	14	20.79
J Srinath	14	21.50

Next 10:

F Mahroof	13	19.85
L Malinga	12	29.50
I Tahir	12	29.58
K Dev	11	25.64
M Marshall	11	31.73
J Garner	11	32.64
C Vaas	10	26.20
W Akram	10	28.50
R Hadlee	10	30.90
J Anderson	10	43.70

Best Figures (best figures of each bowler counted)

Player	Figures
B Lee	5-26
D Bravo	5-36
F Mahroof	5-45
G McGrath	4-31
D Vettori	4-50
S Warne	4-54
T Boult	4-63
J Srinath	4-65
G Swann	4-67

Other Bits and Pieces
Anyone who is interested in finding out more stats, including how many balls each batsman faced, the strike rate of bowlers, working out of NRR, etc., check out the ATG World Cup spreadsheet.

If anyone has any ideas for what the next ATG Championship should be, let me know (assuming anyone has read this far). I'll be having a break from CC until the next edition comes out but when it does, I'm thinking of doing an ATG Test Championship between decades (1920s - 2010s) instead of nations.

Finally, if you have been, thanks for following along.

[IGetOutToFullTosses]

A long but great read! I'm thinking of doing something like this myself, and this has given me plenty of motivation!

Good to see Australia win, but seeing India do so poorly was quite surprising.

I would love to see a Test Championship between decades, and if need be I'd be happy to help select it.

[Wilted]

A long but great read! I'm thinking of doing something like this myself, which has given me plenty of motivation!

Good to see Australia win, but seeing India do so poorly was quite surprising.

I would love to see a Test Championship between decades, and if need be I'd be happy to help select it.

Group A was the tougher group by far. I predicted South Africa being the dominant team in that group, with India taking the second spot. In the end though, New Zealand's performance was a big surprise and England snuck through with wins in home conditions. For whatever reason, India's spin bowlers just couldn't perform in home conditions (which I always made spin friendly).

I did quick 13-man squads for each decade a while ago: Squads of the Decades. Narrowing down the later decades to just 13 was challenging and several greats likely missed out. On the other hand, some of the earlier decades were hard to fill out due to the lack of knowledge of those eras.

Please make any suggestions on if anyone should be added.

[IGetOutToFullTosses]

Group A was the tougher group by far. I predicted South Africa being the dominant team in that group, with India taking the second spot. In the end though, New Zealand's performance was a big surprise and England snuck through with wins in home conditions. For whatever reason, India's spin bowlers just couldn't perform in home conditions (which I always made spin friendly).

I did quick 13-man squads for each decade a while ago: Squads of the Decades. Narrowing down the later decades to just 13 was challenging and several greats likely missed out. On the other hand, some of the earlier decades were hard to fill out due to the lack of knowledge of those eras.

Please make any suggestions on if anyone should be added.

I feel like Chris Gayle should be in there somewhere, maybe in place of Yousuf for 2000s?

Not sure how I feel about de Kock being in there, maybe de Villiers or BJ Watling in his place? (2010s)

Shakib Al Hasan or Ben Stokes could give the 2010s team more bowling, there are no all-rounders in there.

Clive Lloyd should definitely be in there

Overall I feel like there aren't too many all-rounders in the squads, maybe adding some more would help round them out better.



Also, could you please (if you have time) comment on my ATG T20 Squads. I've had these for a while, maybe 6-7 months and would love to make a tournament with them on CC2023. Linked here - ATG T20 SQUADS

[IGetOutToFullTosses]

Group A was the tougher group by far. I predicted South Africa being the dominant team in that group, with India taking the second spot. In the end though, New Zealand's performance was a big surprise and England snuck through with wins in home conditions. For whatever reason, India's spin bowlers just couldn't perform in home conditions (which I always made spin friendly).

I did quick 13-man squads for each decade a while ago: Squads of the Decades. Narrowing down the later decades to just 13 was challenging and several greats likely missed out. On the other hand, some of the earlier decades were hard to fill out due to the lack of knowledge of those eras.

Please make any suggestions on if anyone should be added.

I feel like Chris Gayle should be in there somewhere, maybe in place of Yousuf for 2000s?

Not sure how I feel about de Kock being in there, maybe de Villiers or BJ Watling in his place? (2010s)

Shakib Al Hasan or Ben Stokes could give the 2010s team more bowling, there are no all-rounders in there.

Clive Lloyd should definitely be in there

Overall I feel like there aren't too many all-rounders in the squads, maybe adding some more would help round them out better.



Also, could you please (if you have time) comment on my ATG T20 Squads. I've had these for a while, maybe 6-7 months and would love to make a tournament with them on CC2023. Linked here - ATG T20 SQUADS

[IGetOutToFullTosses]

Group A was the tougher group by far. I predicted South Africa being the dominant team in that group, with India taking the second spot. In the end though, New Zealand's performance was a big surprise and England snuck through with wins in home conditions. For whatever reason, India's spin bowlers just couldn't perform in home conditions (which I always made spin friendly).

I did quick 13-man squads for each decade a while ago: Squads of the Decades. Narrowing down the later decades to just 13 was challenging and several greats likely missed out. On the other hand, some of the earlier decades were hard to fill out due to the lack of knowledge of those eras.

Please make any suggestions on if anyone should be added.

I feel like Chris Gayle should be in there somewhere, maybe in place of Yousuf for 2000s?

Not sure how I feel about de Kock being in there, maybe de Villiers or BJ Watling in his place? (2010s)

Shakib Al Hasan or Ben Stokes could give the 2010s team more bowling, there are no all-rounders in there.

Clive Lloyd should definitely be in there

Overall I feel like there aren't too many all-rounders in the squads, maybe adding some more would help round them out better?



Also, could you please (if you have time) comment on my ATG T20 Squads. I've had these for a while, maybe 6-7 months and would love to make a tournament with them on CC2023. Linked here - ATG T20 SQUADS