Watson’s ton took Australia to title win

The final of the ICC Champions Trophy began at 12:30 GMT time, yesterday (October 5), at Centurion, between the teams of Australia and New Zealand.

Before the match, New Zealand suffered the biggest blow of the tournament as Daniel Vettori, their captain and the leading wicket taker for the team was ruled out of the match due to a hamstring injury.
Daniel Vettori, who had been leading the side well with the limited resources he had, having Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey already out due to injuries. He made a major contribution with the bat against Pakistan, scored 41 off 42 balls, and ensured team’s place in the final. In addition, he had taken seven wickets in the tournament thus far, and New Zealand did miss his Left-arm spin, on the pitch, which did turn. In his absence, Brendon McCullum took over the captaincy.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. However, nothing went as they had planned as they lost their first wicket of captain; McCullum, with only five on board, in the fourth over. Aaron Redmond and Martin Guptill then took scoreboard to 66 in 18 overs. Redmond got out and soon after him; Guptill, who looked good got out scoring 40 of 64 balls. New Zealand were 81 for 4 when Ross Taylor took the aerial route to Johnson’s ball, and was caught by Hussey.

New Zealand never recovered and never really looked to get to a score around 250, as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, finally finishing with 200 on board with the loss of nine wickets, in 50 overs.

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (McCullum, 3.2 ov), 2-66 (Redmond, 18.3 ov), 3-77 (Guptill, 22.2 ov), 4-81 (Taylor, 23.1 ov), 5-94 (Elliott, 26.4 ov), 6-159 (Broom, 40.5 ov), 7-166 (Franklin, 41.6 ov), 8-174 (Butler, 43.4 ov), 9-187 (Mills, 46.4 ov)

With Shane Watson, and Ricky Ponting in good form, the target did not look much of a task, but the odds were against the Australians as they lost their opener, Tim Paine and captain; Ricky Ponting with only 6 runs on the board, in the third over. However, Watson held his never, and kept the scoreboard going with a slower rate. He put on a partnership of 128 runs with Cameron White, who scored 62 of 102 balls, which included seven boundaries and a six.

Watson after three straight ducks early in the tournament, scored a ton against England, repeated his performance in the final match, and scored an unbeaten 105 off 129 balls, which included 10 boundaries and 4 sixes.

Australia won the ICC Champions Trophy final by six wickets (with 28 balls to spare). Shane Watson was awarded the “man-of-the-match”, and Ricky Ponting; the “man-of-the series”.

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Paine, 1.2 ov), 2-6 (Ponting, 2.2 ov), 3-134 (White, 34.5 ov), 4-156 (Hussey, 38.3 ov)