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| April 29, 2007 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1428 |
Rain delays start of final after Aussies elect to bat
BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), April 28: Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka in the World Cup final at Kensington Oval here on Saturday.
Rain delayed the scheduled 09.30am local (1330GMT) start time but minutes before the rescheduled start time of 10.15am (1415GMT) a fresh shower caused a further delay.
Australia were bidding for a third straight title and fourth in all, both unprecedented achievements in the nine-edition history of the World Cup.
They came into this match on the back of a record run of 28 games unbeaten in World Cup cricket, including 22 straight wins.
Australia were unchanged from the side that beat South Africa by seven wickets in Wednesday's semi-final in St Lucia.
This match was fast bowler Glenn McGrath's last before retirement. The 37-year-old was appearing in his fourth successive World Cup final, having also been on the losing side when Sri Lanka beat Australia in 1996.
Ahead of the final, he had 70 World Cup wickets; his 25 to date in the 2007 edition was already a record for a single event.
Sri Lanka, whose team contained three survivors from the side that won the World Cup 11 years ago (Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan), were also unchanged following their 81-run win in Tuesday's semi-final against New Zealand in Jamaica.
Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando, whose five overs against the Black Caps cost an expensive 45 runs, retained his place despite reports from Sri Lanka he would be dropped.
Teams
AUSTRALIA: Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait, Glenn McGrath.
SRI LANKA: Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando.
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan).
TV umpire: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).—AFP
Rain reduced the final to a 38 overs per side contest.
Three bowlers will be permitted to bowl a maximum of eight overs each and two a maximum of seven.
The match was due to start at 12.15pm local time nearly three hours after the scheduled start.
