MELBOURNE: Australian captain Michael Clarke holds aloft World Cup trophy as his team-mates carry him on their shoulders after the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.—Reuters

MELBOURNE: Michael Clarke hit 74 in his last One-day International to lead Australia to their fifth World Cup title with a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in a disappointing final on Sunday.

A record crowd of 93,013 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) saw power-packed Australia bowl out the Black Caps for 183 and then gallop to victory in the 34th over.

Clarke, who announced his retirement from the one-day format on the eve of the final, added 112 runs for the third wicket with his likely successor Steve Smith, who returned unbeaten on 56.

The emphatic win was set up by the left-arm fast bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner and Mitchell Johnson who shared eight wickets after the Kiwis elected to bat on a good pitch.

New Zealand messed up their maiden appearance in the title clash of cricket’s showpiece event, falling like nine pins against the hostile Australian bowling.

Inspirational captain Brendon McCullum fell off the fifth ball of the innings for a duck and two other frontline batsmen, Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi, also failed to score.

South Africa-born Grant Elliott was the top-scorer with 83, sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 111 with Ross Taylor (40) after New Zealand had been reduced to 39 for three in the 13th over.

The massive crowd, which broke the MCG record of 91,112 on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test against England in December 2013, saw New Zealand lose their last seven wickets for 33 runs.

New Zealand crumbled after going into the final as the only unbeaten team in the 14-nation tournament, their eight wins including a one-wicket success over Australia in a low scoring pool stage thriller at Auckland.

New Zealand raised hopes of repeating their amazing win in the league when they removed Aaron Finch for a duck in the second over, Trent Boult taking an easy return catch as the ball lobbed off the batsman’s bat and pad.

Left-hander David Warner, who struck Tim Southee for three successive boundaries, slammed seven fours in his 45 off 46 balls, adding 61 for the second wicket with Smith.

But the pugnacious opener was unable to build on his fine start as he pulled seamer Matt Henry down Elliott’s throat at deep square-leg.

Clarke entered the arena to a standing ovation and attacking fields from McCullum who placed six players inside the circle on the off side.

Smith, who scored a sublime century in the semi-final against India in Sydney last Thursday, continued his good form to help Clarke take charge of the match.

Both batsmen played the bowling on its merits as McCullum, whose aggression with the bat and as captain have transformed the national side, switched his bowlers and field placings in an effort to conjure a wicket.

Clarke struck Daniel Vettori over the bowler’s head for six and McCullum brought his best bowler Trent Boult back for a final fling. Clarke responded with a perfect off drive to the boundary.

He reached his 50 from 56 balls in exactly an hour and acknowledged another standing ovation from the crowd for his 58th and final one-day fifty. After a final flurry of boundaries he was bowled by Henry, giving Smith time to complete his half century.

Smith sealed victory by pulling Henry for a boundary, sparking jubilant scenes in the stands as Clarke and the rest of the team ran on to the field to embrace Smith.

Starc’s two wickets in the New Zealand innings took his tally to 22, enabling him to emerge with Boult as the joint highest wicket-takers in the tournament.

Martin Guptill surpassed Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara’s 541 runs to become the tournament’s leading run-getter when he reached 10, but he managed to add just five runs more.

The tall opener, who hit a World Cup record score of 237 not out against the West Indies in the Wellington quarter-final, was bowled trying to cut Glenn Maxwell’s second delivery against the spin.

Taylor and Elliott had taken the total to 150-3 when the rot set in at the start of batting Powerplay after the 35th over. The wickets fell swiftly and New Zealand were bowled out for the lowest first innings score in a 50 overs World Cup final since Australia ran through Pakistan for 132 at Lord’s in 1999.

Both sides fielded unchanged teams from their semi-final wins where Australia beat India and New Zealand downed South Africa in a penultimate-ball thriller.

Faulkner, who took two wickets in the first over of the batting Powerplay, was named man-of-the-match and Mitchell Starc was man-of-the-tournament after picking each of his 22 wickets at an average of 10.18.

Australia’s previous titles came in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007 with coach Darren Lehmann, a two-time World Cup winner as a player in 1999 and 2003, celebrating another success off the field.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND: Runs Balls 4s 6s
M.J. Guptill b Maxwell 15 34 1 1
B.B. McCullum b Starc 0 3 0 0
K.S. Williamson c and b Johnson 12 33 1 0
L.R.P.L. Taylor c Haddin b Faulkner 40 72 2 0
G.D. Elliott c Haddin b Faulkner 83 82 7 1
C.J. Anderson b Faulkner 0 2 0 0
L. Ronchi c Clarke b Starc 0 4 0 0
D.L. Vettori b Johnson 9 21 1 0
T.G. Southee run out (Maxwell) 11 11 0 1
M.J. Henry c Starc b Johnson 0 7 0 0
T.A. Boult not out 0 1 0 0

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-6) 13
TOTAL (all out, 45 overs) 183
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1 (McCullum, 0.5 ov), 2-33 (Guptill, 11.2 ov), 3-39 (Williamson, 12.2 ov), 4-150 (Taylor, 35.1 ov), 5-150 (Anderson, 35.3 ov), 6-151 (Ronchi, 36.2 ov), 7-167 (Vettori, 40.6 ov), 8-171 (Elliott, 41.5 ov), 9-182 (Henry, 44.5 ov).
BOWLING: Starc 8-0-20-2 (1w); Hazlewood 8-2-30-0; Johnson 9-0-30-3 (2w); Maxwell 7-0-37-1 (1w); Faulkner 9-1-36-3; Watson 4-0-23-0 (2w).

AUSTRALIA: Runs Balls 4s 6s
D.A. Warner c Elliott b Henry 45 46 7 0
A.J. Finch c and b Boult 0 5 0 0
S.P.D. Smith not out 56 71 3 0
M.J. Clarke b Henry 74 72 10 1
S.R. Watson not out 2 5 0 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-6) 9
TOTAL (for three wkts, 33.1 overs) 186
FALL OF WKTS: 1-2 (Finch, 1.4 ov), 2-63 (Warner, 12.2 ov), 3-175 (Clarke, 31.1 ov).
DID NOT BAT: G.J. Maxwell, J.P. Faulkner, B.J. Haddin, M.G. Johnson, M.A. Starc, J.R. Hazlewood.
BOWLING: Southee 8-3-65-0 (3w); Boult 10-0-40-1; Vettori 5-0-25-0; Henry 9.1-0-46-2 (2w); Anderson 1-0-7-0 (1w).

RESULT: Australia won by seven wickets.
UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and R.A. Kettleborough (England).
TV UMPIRE: M. Erasmus (South Africa).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: James Faulkner.
MAN-OF-THE-TOURNAMENT: Mitchell Starc.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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