World Cup 2015 Grand Finale New Zealand vs Australia Review; Australia wins 5th World Title after New Zealand perishes under pressure

World Cup 2015 Grand Finale New Zealand vs Australia Review; Australia wins 5th World Title after New Zealand perishes under pressure: After 48 scintillating matches in 43 days of mind-blowing cricket, we finally got our 2 teams in the finals of the 2015 World Cup. Co-hosts New Zealand and Australia, 2 of the best teams in the World Cup, met in the finals of the tournament for another battle.

New Zealand had beaten Australia in the match of the 2015 World Cup by 1 wicket in group stages. But Australia had dominated other teams including Pakistan in quarter finals and India in semi-finals on their way to finals. Whereas New Zealand had been on the top of their game throughout the tournament, beating teams like Sri Lanka, England and South Africa in the semi-finals. Read on for our grand finale review.

New Zealand won the all-important toss in the final at theMCG in front of 93,000 plus crowd and Captain McCullum decided to bat first. The decision must have been influenced by the previous history in the finals. Both the teams went in unchanged and charged for the finals match.

Australians started with Mitchell Starc, while McCullum and Guptill opened for New Zealand.  Starc who has been in top form, struck with the 3rd ball of the innings, removing the dangerous McCullum with a great yorker in the first over. Kane Williamson and  Guptill added some runs before Clarke introduced Maxwell into the attack, who removed Guptill, who misread the length of the ball and got bowled. Mitchell Johnson dismissed Kane Williamson with a slower ball.

Semi-final hero Grant Elliot and Ross Taylor then got together to add 111 runs for the 4th innings. Both of them started taking the attack to Australian bowlers, who looked to dismiss them at any cost. Taylor looked good while scoring 40 runs, when New Zealand took the power play. James Faulkner came on and dismissed Taylor for 40 runs and after 2 balls, dismissed the very dangerous Corey Anderson for a duck. Grant Elliot, who won the match for New Zealand in the semis, also scored 83 runs here, trying his best to take New Zealand towards 200. But Faulkner accounted for him as well, sending him back for 83 runs.

The rest of the batsmen fell like nine-pins to Johnson and Starc, New Zealand lost their remaining 6 wickets for just 33 runs during the power play. James Faulkner was the pick of the bowlers with 3/36 along with Mitchell Johnson taking 3/30. Starc took 2 wickets including that of Brendon McCullum at the start to trigger the collapse.

Australia didn’t have a big target in front of them, but they knew they had to encounter a brilliant fast bowling attack in Boult, Vettori, Henry and Southee. Aussie opener Warner and Finch came out to chase down the 183 for their 5th World Title.

Aaron Finch failed again, going out for a duck in WC final, giving a return catch to Boult. Steve Smith and David Warner came together to stitch a 61 run partnership to stabilise the innings. McCullum used attacking fields and the bowlers tried to bowl to that field. But Warner started to punish the bowlers on any error they made, scoring 45 runs before getting out to Matt Henry.

In walked Captain Michael Clarke, who was playing his last ODI innings in Australian colors, to join  Steve Smith and started to take the attack to New Zealand bowlers from the start. He scored runs freely and was looking to win the match without losing any further wickets.

Warner and Clarke added 112 runs for the 3rd wicket. Clarke was dismissed for a brilliant 74 runs off 72 balls in which he hit 10 fours and 1 sixes. Steve Smith carried on his good form, hitting his 5th consecutive fifty in the 2015 World Cup. Shane Watson came in to partner Smith with 15 runs remaining. Steve Smith hit the winning runs in form of a four off Matt Henry for the win. Smith and Watson embraced each other in excitement while the other Australian team mates ran on to the field to celebrate. The 93,000 odd fans erupted in happiness while fireworks marked Australia’s 5th World title win. New Zealand looked dejected, despite a great effort to reach the finals. The finals day didn’t go their way with them losing McCullum early and then Faulkner running through their side in the power play.

James Faulkner was named the Man of the finals for his 3/36. Mitchell Starc was awarded the Man of the series for his 20 wickets at average of 10.20 and a best of 6/28. He was presented the award by 2011 World Cup winner and Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 183 (G Elliot 83,R Taylor 40; M Johnson 3/30) lost to Australia 186/3 (M Clarke 74, S Smith 56*; M Henry 2/46) by 7 wickets.

AUSTRALIA WINS THE ICC WORLD CUP 2015.

Records and trivia

# This was the last ODI for Australia skipper Michael Clarke.

# The Final between Australia and New Zealand will be the 400th match of World Cup history – the 200th was also final between Australia and Pakistan 1999 WC Final.

# Australia, 5th World Cup title, all in different continent.

# Darren Lehmann became the second person to win the World Cup as player in 1999 and 2003 and as a coach in 2015.