05 Oct 2009
Australia vs New Zealand
Final Match, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)
Live action starts from: 12:30 GMT (18:00 IST)
Both teams gave satisfactory performances in the semi-finals, and both are more or less settled – even if not entirely by design.
Australia (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Cameron White, 6 Callum Ferguson, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.
A discussion on allrounder Brendon Diamanti has its merits – Neil Broom hasn’t had much to do in the tournament – but New Zealand are not likely to tinker with a winning combination. And the way Elliott came through the semi-final, a big worry for them has been taken care of.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.
Underdogs in films make a mockery of the form book. Exhibit 1: New Zealand come to the Champions Trophy, sans superstars, sans high ICC rankings, and after being well and truly battered for more than a month in the sapping heat of Sri Lanka. They are – it is fair to say – the outsiders in this tournament.
Underdogs in the movies start out of their depth, find the happy knack of winning, and then start liking what they feel. Exhibit 2: New Zealand are outclassed by South Africa on a true Centurion pitch. Then Sri Lanka, fooled by the earlier two pitches at the Wanderers, put New Zealand in, and discover they have given their opponents first use of a batting beauty. Against England, New Zealand get a spitting beauty of a pitch, call right at the toss, and run through the batting.
Underdogs in the movies are hit by injuries, handicaps, and miseries, but every setback inspires them. Exhibit 3: New Zealand lose Jacob Oram before their campaign starts. Jesse Ryder pulls his left abductor muscle during the Sri Lanka game, but before leaving plays the kind of innings that must have led to the coining of the phrase “beware the wounded batsman”. Then Daryl Tuffey, at the time looking their best bowler, breaks his hand while fielding and is ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Next up, Grant Elliott, hero of the win against England, breaks his thumb, but braves the injury to score a heroic unbeaten 75 in the semi-final.
The real villains start appearing only in the later stages of underdog movies. Exhibit 4: On paper Pakistan have everything they need to end this underdog tale, but their occasional overconfidence and exceptional play from the underdogs take New Zealand to the final.
Underdogs in the movies meet the biggest, scariest villain right at the end. Exhibit 5: It is always Australia’s fate, or that of any champion team, that their excellence, consistency, their hard work, will always be seen as villainous in romantic underdog stories. We can also conveniently forget that they too lost three of their most important players – Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin – in the lead-up to the tournament. Champions, though, don’t deserve such considerations. Every good underdog story needs a mean villain, and Australia have rarely failed to oblige at world events.
If more context is needed, st them. Mo
New Zealand have historically seen Australia as big brothers, and have always sought to bring their best againreover, New Zealand are yet to beat Australia in a tournament final, and have lost six times (tournaments with more than one final have been considered as one). Centurion will not provide them with a freak pitch either. It’s all stacked up against New Zealand this time, and no self-respecting underdog story would have it any other way.
How good this story is will be known by Monday evening, or rather early on Tuesday morning in Australia and New Zealand.
