Australia Vs Sri Lanka Final

Three titles in sight

Australia reached the final of the 2007 World Cup, played across several host nations in the Caribbean, unbeaten through the whole tournament, chasing a third consecutive title after wins in 1999 and 2003. Sri Lanka, under Mahela Jayawardene, had reached only their second World Cup final, a decade on from their surprise triumph in 1996, on the back of a strong bowling attack led by Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga, the young seamer whose slingy action and toe-crushing yorkers had already become one of the stories of the tournament. Ricky Ponting won the toss at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown and chose to bat first on an outfield that had been soaked by rain earlier in the day.

Gilchrist's squash ball

Adam Gilchrist opened the batting and played one of the great World Cup final innings, 149 from 104 balls before he was caught off Dilhara Fernando, striking the ball with unusual power that he later explained came from a squash ball he had placed inside his batting glove to firm up his grip, a piece of equipment he had experimented with only in the days before the final. He reached his hundred in just 72 balls and kept accelerating from there right through to the end of the innings, and was named man of the match once the game was done.

Hayden's support and a total set

Matthew Hayden made 38 in support at the top of the order, and the pair put on 172 for the first wicket, the platform on which the rest of the innings was built. Ricky Ponting came in at three and added 52 with Gilchrist for the second wicket, a stand that ended when Gilchrist himself was finally out. Ponting went on to add a further 37 with Andrew Symonds for the third wicket before he was run out for 37, and Andrew Symonds finished unbeaten on 23 and Michael Clarke unbeaten on 8 as Australia closed their innings on 281 for 4 from their 38 overs, the match having already been shortened by rain before Australia had finished batting. Lasith Malinga took 2 for 49 and Dilhara Fernando 1 for 74, both bowling with real pace and hostility, but neither could find a way to stop Gilchrist once he had settled into his rhythm. Muttiah Muralitharan, so often the difference for Sri Lanka in tournaments like this, went wicketless from his seven overs, unable to find the control that had made him the leading spinner of his era.

Jayasuriya and Sangakkara fight back

Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga cheaply, caught off Nathan Bracken for 6 with the score only on 7, but Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara then began the reply's only real period of momentum. Jayasuriya made 63 from 67 balls and Sangakkara 54 from just 52, adding 116 for the second wicket, and for a spell of the chase Sri Lanka kept pace with the target set for their own reduced innings. Once Sangakkara was caught off Brad Hogg and Jayasuriya bowled by Michael Clarke soon after, the innings never recovered the same tempo. Chamara Silva added 21 and Mahela Jayawardene 19, but wickets fell steadily enough through the middle of the innings that Sri Lanka were always chasing the game as much as the total.

Rain and a revised target

Rain interruptions on the day meant both innings were shortened under the Duckworth-Lewis method, Australia's innings closed at 38 overs and Sri Lanka's reply was reduced to a target from 36 overs. Once Jayasuriya and Sangakkara had gone, Sri Lanka lost wickets in a rush through the lower middle order: Tillakaratne Dilshan run out for 14 with the score on 188, Chamara Silva bowled by Michael Clarke for 21 soon after, and Russel Arnold caught off Glenn McGrath for just 1. Michael Clarke finished with 2 for 33 and Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath and Shane Watson took a wicket apiece as Sri Lanka closed on 215 for 8 from those 36 overs, well short of the revised target, with Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando unbeaten at the end, 15 extras included in their total.

The finish in near darkness

The finish itself became one of the most talked-about passages in World Cup history for reasons that had nothing to do with the cricket. Bad light and confusion between the umpires and the match officials over the Duckworth-Lewis target meant the closing overs were played in near darkness, so dim that television replays struggled to pick out the ball, and for a period the players and umpires on the field appeared genuinely unsure whether the match had actually finished already or needed to continue. Australia were eventually confirmed as winners by 53 runs under Duckworth-Lewis, and Ricky Ponting lifted the trophy in conditions barely bright enough to see the presentation properly, a strange and slightly farcical end to a tournament that had otherwise been run over almost seven weeks across the Caribbean.

A third title and a farewell

The win completed Australia's third consecutive World Cup title, a run of dominance in one-day cricket that remains unmatched, and it was the last World Cup appearance for several of that Australian side's senior players, Glenn McGrath among them, closing out a career that had brought him the record for the most wickets ever taken in World Cup history. Adam Gilchrist's squash-ball innings is remembered as one of the great one-day knocks under the biggest possible pressure, and the confusion over the finish, with the two campaigns' rain rules and bad-light regulations colliding at the worst possible moment, led directly to changes in how such situations were handled in International Cricket Council tournament finals afterwards. The full scorecard, over by over, is on this page, and both sides' wider World Cup histories are on the Australia and Sri Lanka team pages. In The Chase you can put Gilchrist's opening partnership together yourself and see how quickly you can take an attack apart.

Sources

• CricArcade World Cup archive: the full scorecard, fall of wickets and bowling figures on this page
• ESPNcricinfo: ICC World Cup 2007, final scorecard and report
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2008: the 2007 World Cup