Australia has been the most successful side in the history of the ODI Cricket World Cup. The Aussie brigade has lifted the World Cup title a record five times since the tournament began in 1975. Australia won their maiden World Cup in 1987 but the world witnessed the cricketing giants dominate global cricket from 1999 to 2007.
On 28 April 2007, Australia successfully bagged a hat-trick of World Cup triumphs by beating Sri Lanka in a rain-curtailed final at Kensington Oval in Barbados. The then vice-captain Adam Gilchrist put up a massive show and turned out to be the most valuable player from the Australian side. The former wicketkeeper-batter blasted 149 runs in 104 deliveries and was named the player of the match.
Ricky Ponting (L) and Player of the Match Adam Gilchrist (R) hold up the trophy after winning the 2007 World Cup. AFP
Batting first, openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden took a good hold of the game and added a crucial 172 runs for the first wicket. Though the Sri Lankans started the game well not allowing the duo to register more than 46 runs in the first 10 overs they lost the momentum in the next 12 overs.
Gilchrist and Hayden smashed 117 runs at a 10-per-over run rate which was dominated by the former’s strokes. After the dismissal of Hayden, Gilchrist continued to punish the Sri Lankan bowlers with some booming front foot drives. The memorable innings came to an end in the 31st over. The southpaw mistimed a short length delivery bowled by Dilhara Fernando and found Chamara Silva at the midwicket. He created a storm on the ground with 13 boundaries and eight maximums.
The Aussie legend also completed his 9000 ODI runs and 1000 World Cup runs during that 149-run knock. Later, Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke successfully steered the innings to 281 runs in 38 overs.
While coming to chase, the Islanders lost the early wicket of Upul Tharanga. After that, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara took the Sri Lankan innings past 100 run. After their dismissals, the islanders kept losing wickets as no other batter managed to reach the 30-run mark. They reached 215 runs in 36 overs. Even the rain couldn’t help them in the end and Australia snatched the victory convincingly by 53 runs following the Duckworth, Lewis and Stern method.
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