Warne, McGrath help Australia pouch the World Cup

Frankly, the final as a contest ceased as soon as an overawed Pakistani batting line-up failed to put enough runs on the board. After that it was only a question of how soon the Australians would knock off the score.The fresh pitch, conducive to seam bowling after a spell of early morning rain play started 35 minutes behind schedule because of the rain was the right prop for the pace bowling duo of McGrath and Damien Fleming. Both got lateral movement and the Pak batsmen, ontenter-hooks right through, were turned inside out.

Skipper Wasim Akram8217;s decision to bat first was probably prompted by his belief that his bowlers stood a better chance of defending a target than his batsmen chasing one. But with the batsmen not giving the team a worthwhile target the final fizzled out.

From the first dismissal, a result of a superb two-handed diving catch at second slip by Mark Waugh, to the last one, when Ricky Ponting dived to miraculously catch Saqlain Mustaq at third slip, Australia8217;s catching was of an unbelievably high order.

In between, Pakistan felt cheated when their main hope, Inzamam-ul-Haq was declared caught behind by umpire David Shepherd, even though he did not snick the ball. Truly the ball rolled cruelly for Pakistan in the final.

McGarth started the rout by having Wajahatullah Wasti, who was a far cry from the classy batsman he looked against the New Zealand attack, caught brilliantly by Mark Waugh. Waugh threw himself to his right and amazingly clutched on to anedge that was fast flying away from him.

Worse was to follow for Pakistan. Their main stay, Saeed Anwar played on to a delivery that cut into him. For a while, Ijaz Ahmed and Abdul Razzaq clung on and saw off McGrath and Fleming.

However, Pakistan, hoping to get some easy runs against Tom Moody, came unstuck when Razzaq8217;s airy drive was superbly caught at covers by Steve Waugh diving forward. The arrival to the bowling crease of Shane Warne threw Pakistan headlong into disaster street. The leg-spinner backed his captain8217;s boast with a fine haul of four wickets.

Warne bamboozled and castled Ijaz Ahmed with a leg-spinner, had the combative Moin Khan caught behind, trapped Shahid Afridi in front before snaring Wasim Akram at short mid-wicket. Pakistan8217;s goose was truly and well cooked.

Their final total of 132 was the lowest ever in the history of World Cup cricket. The Aussies knocked it off for the loss of just two wickets and in 20.1 overs. The Australians, who won the World Cup first in 1987 inIndia, thus bagged the title for the second time. In the process they emulated the West Indies who were champions in 1975 and 1979.

Scoreboard

Final 8212; Pakistan vs Australia at The Lord8217;s

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first

PAKISTAN R B 4/6
Saeed Anwar b Fleming 15 17 3/0
Wajahatullah Wasti c M Waugh b McGrath 1 14 0/0
Abdul Razzaq c S Waugh b Moody 17 51 2/0
Ijaz Ahmed b Warne 22 46 2/0
Inzamam-ul Haq c Gilchrist b Reiffel 15 33 0/0
Moin Khan c Gilchrist b Warne 6 12 0/0
Shahid Afridi lbw b Warne 13 16 2/0
Azhar Mahmood c amp;b Moody 8 17 1/0
Wasim Akram c S Waugh b Warne 8 20 0/1
Saqlain Mushtaq c Ponting b McGrath 0 4 0/0
Shoaib Akhtar not out 2 6 0/0
Extras lb10, w13, nb2 25
Total all out, 39 overs 132
Fall of wickets: 1-21 Wajahatullah, 4.4 overs; 2-21 Anwar, 5.1; 3-68 Razzaq, 19.4; 4-77 Ijaz, 23.4; 5-91 Moin, 27.1; 6-104 Inzamam,30.1; 7-113 Afridi, 31.6; 8-129 Azhar, 36.6; 9-129 Akram, 37.2

Bowling: McGrath 9-3-13-2; Fleming 6-0-30-1 2nb, 4w; Reiffel 10-1-29-1 2w; Moody 5-0-17-2 1w; Warne 9-1-33-4 2w.

Australia R B 4/6
Mark Waugh not out 37 52 4/0
Adam Gilchrist c Inzamam b Saqlain 54 36 8/1
Ricky Ponting c Moin b Akram 24 27 3/0
Darren Lehmann not out 13 9 2/0
Extras lb1, w1, nb3 5
Total 2 wickets, 20.1 overs 133
Did not bat: Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan, Tom Moody, Shane Warne, Paul Reiffel, Damien Fleming, Glenn McGrath
Fall of wicket: 1-75 Gilchrist, 10.1; 2-112 Ponting, 17.4Bowling: Akram 8-1-41-1 2nb, 1w; Akhtar 4-0-37-0 1nb, Razzaq 2-0-13-0; Mahmood 1-0-13-0; Saqlain 5.1-0-28-1
Result: Australia won by eight wickets
Man of the Match: Shane Warne Australia
Man of the Tournament: Lance Klusener South Africa