Aussies too good for the field

After 44 days, and nights, and 49 matches in the contrasting conditions and atmosphere of Australia and New Zealand, on wickets which offered swing, some which offered no swing or very little, and before crowds of happy fans, the 2015 World Cup is now a part of cricket's wonderful history.

And for those who enjoy batting, this World Cup, despite the bowling of Tim Southee in one match, despite that of Trent Boult on a few occasions, and despite that of Mitchell Starc on many times, was a treat.

Last Sunday, before a record gathering of cricket fans, before a near full house of over 93,000 cheering spectators and a few mourning souls at the magnificent Melbourne Cricket Ground, the top favourites won the Cup for the fifth time.

Australia, the home team, defeated New Zealand, the co-hosts and the second most fancied team, comfortably and by a margin of seven wickets with 16.5 overs to go.

exciting tournament

The final, like the entire tournament, was exciting and memorable, not because of the result of the match, but because of the contests in the contest, the clash of individual skills.

The business end of the tournament, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals like the final, was, to put it nicely, mostly filled with one-sided but absorbing and interesting matches.

Unlike the South Africa/Zimbabwe match in which South Africa stumbled badly at 83 for four before recovering to 339 for four and an easy victory, unlike the West Indies/Ireland match in which the West Indies recovered from 87 for five to reach 304 for seven before they lost it easily and embarrassingly, and unlike the first match between Australia and New Zealand which ended in a close one-wicket victory for New Zealand, the matches, most of them, ended easy and comfortably for the winners.

In the quarter-finals, which, with exception of the embarrassing England, featured the eight best teams, South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by nine wickets, India beat Bangladesh by 109 runs, Australia defeated Pakistan by six wickets, and New Zealand beat the West Indies by 143 runs.

And although New Zealand scraped past South Africa by winning one of the semi-final matches off the penultimate delivery of a rain-affected match, Australia clobbered India by 95 runs and with 3.1 overs to go in the other one.

It was exciting, however, to witness, for example, the dangerous Brendon McCullum's off-stump disturbed by a superb delivery in the final, the third delivery of the match, and bowled by left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc.

And it was just as good to see the last six wickets tumbling for 33 runs in 9.5 overs as Australia, led by Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Johnson, demolished New Zealand for 183 and then raced to victory in 33.1 overs with Steve Smith and Michael Clarke stroking 56 not out and 74 respectively.

That was the story of the World Cup. It was not so much team against team, but bowlers against batsmen, batsmen against bowlers, and brilliant fielding in support.

How can we forget, for example, Southee's seven wickets for 33 runs for New Zealand against the embarrassing England, Jerome Taylor's three wickets for one run which left Pakistan reeling at four for one against the West Indies, and Boult's spell of five wickets for three runs off five overs for the Kiwis against Australia in the preliminary round.

And there were also Starc's six for 28 in the preliminary round match for Australia against New Zealand, Sri Lanka struggling at two for two, 18 for three, and 53 for four against newcomers Afghanistan, and the excitement of J. P. Duminy's hat-trick for South Africa against Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals.

Brilliant 215

How can we forget also the batting of Duminy, 115 not out, and David Miller, 138 not out, for South Africa against Zimbabwe, or McCullum's 77 not out off 22 deliveries against England, or AB deVilliers 162 not out off 68 deliveries for South Africa against the West Indies, or Chris Gayle's brilliant 215 in a partnership of 372 with Marlon Samuels for the West Indies against Zimbabwe, or Martin Guptill's delightful 237 not out for New Zealand against the West Indies.

And how can we ever forget the brilliance in the field of players like wicket-keeper Matthew Cross who stumped Jason Taylor of England off pacer Josh Davey of Scotland, or New Zealand's Daniel Vettori's fantastic leaping catch on the square-leg boundary off Samuels.

There were others, players who, from time to time, tickled the imagination with their skill with bat and ball, players like batsman Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and others like Smith of Australia as well as Brendan Taylor of Zimbabwe and Grant Elliott of New Zealand, and bowlers like Vettori of New Zealand, Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz of Pakistan, Umesh Yadav of India, and Imran Tahir of South Africa.

Although batsmen like Gayle and Samuels of the West Indies, Virat Kohli and Ajinka Rajane of India, Hasim Amla of South Africa, Younis Khan of Pakistan, and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka and bowlers such as Dale Stein of South Africa, and Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka failed to deliver, others used the opportunity to preen themselves.

Batsmen such as Kyle Coetzer of Scotland, Asghar Shenikzai and Samiullah Shenwari of Afghanistan, and Shaiman Anwar of the United Arab Emirates, and bowlers like Davey and the Afghan trio of Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Hamid Hassan were some of the unknown who left their mark on World Cup 2015.

It was a World Cup with moments to treasure.

Australia, however, a team of batsmen like David Warner, Smith, and Clarke, all-rounders like Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner, and fast bowlers the quality of Starc, Johnson, and Hazlewood, and although they lost in the preliminary round to New Zealand by a whisker, were simply too good for the field.