MANY people agreed that the two best sides of the 2015 Cricket World Cup were playing in the finals. But the 4-time Champion Australia dominated the game on March 29 in such a manner that it left the New Zealand fans wondering where their all conquering team went missing. Their captain Brendon McCullum won the important toss for the Kiwis. That would perhaps be his only triumph for the day. As NZ went into bat, Mitchell Starc produced one of the best overs in his life, removing the dangerous McCullum for naught. The Kiwis were sent to their back foot, from where clinical Australia never really allowed them to recover. The next two wickets were gone; not to the best of deliveries, but perhaps to the sheer pressure of balancing a scoring to give themselves a chance against the mighty Aussie batting line-up, and playing with caution. The Kiwi’s best partnership came for the 4th wicket between veteran Ross Taylor and the hero of the Semi-finals Grant Elliot, who took the score from a precarious 3-39 to register the team score of 150 on the 35th over. Right there disaster struck. Part-time bowler James Faulkner enticed Taylor to slash at a wide one and had him caught by a diving Haddin. In the same over he yorked new batsman Corey Anderson to have NZ at 150-5. Taking no chances, captain Michael Clark brought back his strike bowler Starc, who obliged with the wicket of Ronchi, the last recognized batsman. From there it was a question of how much Elliot could take the score to with the tail. In the end, NZ managed 183, raising speculations of a possible repeat of the 1983 miracle where unfancied India beat the mighty West Indies defending the very same target. But clinical Australia would dismiss any such notion soon after. Australia did lose an early wicket in the second over when Trent Boult got rid of Finch. But in form Steve Smith joined the aggressive David Warner and quickly took the game away from the visiting team. In the end they managed to overhaul the target in the 34th over losing 3 wickets. New Zealand can take heart from the fact that they are not the only side to have been completely overwhelmed in a WC Final against the mighty Aussies. 8 wicket victory against Pakistan in 1999 and 125 run victory against India in 2003 in the Finals are testament to the nature of their dominance in the World stage.
It has to be accepted that it was a matter of great credit for New Zealand to fight its way to the finals. The Australian team won undoubtedly by far as the best team under the best captainship.
