Australia outplays New Zealand, wins Champions Trophy
As Australia won the ICC Champions Trophy, defeating New Zealand on Monday, it reminded the world of its proficiency, despite losing the first position ICC ranking recently. However, it became a hollow win with a largely empty stadium as the witness.
THE FINAL match of the ICC Champions Trophy was between the father of cricket, Australia and its traditional rival, New Zealand, but the glitz of cricket was missing somewhere at Super Sport Park, Centurion in South Africa.
Like both semi finals, the venue was not packed and stands were empty. Meanwhile, the hysteria of cricket frenzy fans was totally missing. The finals of ICC Champions Trophy proved yet again that cricket is really admired only on the Indian subcontinent. Only the clash of India and Pakistan in league phase brought smile on ICC's face. The tickets of that game were sold out well in advance and the stadium was houseful.
In a dull and low scoring final of ICC Champions Trophy, Australia crashed Vettori less New Zealand by 6 wickets. All rounder Shane Watson who remained unconquered after scoring a hundred in the semi finals against England, once again repeated his brilliancy by hitting an unbeaten century. Captain Ricky Ponting who also scored a century in the semi finals fell this time, but CL White took Australia out of an impending crisis, which was struggling on 6 for 2 in 2.2 overs.
White shared a valuable partnership of 128 with Shane Watson that didn’t allow New Zealand to make a comeback. Despite brilliant balling of of KD Mills and Shane Bond, New Zealand could not stop their opponent.
After scoring a meagre 205 for 9 in the 50 allotted overs, New Zealand fought back strongly by taking two early wickets, including the wicket of Ricky Ponting. The bowlers of New Zealand showed discipline and gave away only one wide (Shane Bond). If the score would have been above 250, it could have been an interesting fight. In form, Shane Watson kept calm and hit the right balls and safely took home the victory with 28 balls remaining.
On the whole, Australia which has recently lost the coveted first position in the ICC rankings, has reminded the world that they are still the best. After clinching the ICC Champions Trophy, the Australian captain Ricky Ponting has also proved his mastery.
Last but not the least, in future ICC should think about the suitable venues for organising World Cup and Mini World Cups. The stadiums remained empty in most of the matches of Champions Trophy. Besides these, the fixtures and point system of the tournament should also be changed. This system lead to India's exit from the tournament as they were not able to make a comeback due tto their loss in the first match.
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