Cricket World Cup Champions 2007 - Australia

Being a loyal supporter of the Australian cricket team, I have to congratulate them on yet another world cup win, despite this tournament being quite boring. In this world cup, they were not challanged in any match at all. They won so convincingly that it's almost detrimental to the sport in general. But you can only play as good as you possibly can and its up to others to catch up to you. Nobody bemoans Roger Federer for being so good, so it's not Australia's fault that there was lacklustre interest in the whole world cup in general.

The final itself promised a lot but failed to deliver, at least on Sri Lanka's behalf. Like the games between Australia and England, New Zealand, West Indies and in particular, South Africa who talked it up, Australia was just far too good.

In the final, the magician known as Adam Gilchrist once again reminded critics what he is capable of and what he has built his reputation on for all these years. His 149 run from 104 was absolutely breathtaking. The sixes he hit were so clean and the drives for four were so powerful, it was just awesome. Those wonderful shots helped keep me awake through the night while I was watching the match.

Then when it came time for Sri Lanka to bat, the bowling was just too good from Australia. Glenn McGrath showed that he is still great in "old age" and was the leading wicket taker in the tournament. There was a brief moment when Sangakara and Jayasuria were batting that there was a slight hint that Sri Lanka could win, but as usual, Australia put out that flame quickly.

In terms of the tournament, it was just all wrong this time. The group stages where each team played only 3 matches meant any small slip up would be almost fatal. It turned out that way for Pakistan and India. Then the Super 8 stage just went on FOREVER. Even being a cricket lover, I was just saying, "Get on with the semi finals."

The small crowds did not help to make me enthusiastic about the matches. The ICC or whoever was in charge of pricing and banning people from bringing instruments to the grounds made some big mistakes. And to play only one match at most a day was crazy. At least two or maybe even three matches can be played each day and hence shorten the whole tournament time frame.

Here's hoping that the next world cup will be staged better and make for more exciting contests with the top nations getting through. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ireland and Bangladesh, but one lucky win from them resulted in nations such as Pakistan and India not making it to the Super 8. The two minnows were clearly outclassed in the Super 8's and it was not good for the sports biggest showcase.

If the rest of the world don't start picking up their games soon, I could be writing in four years time about a record fourth Australian world cup victory in a row. As much as I would love to write that, I want to see them challenged and watch some exciting games.