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| Australia clinch Champions Trophy for first time | | | Mumbai, Nov 5 Australia reaffirmed their status as the undisputed champions in world cricket by breaking the Champions Trophy jinx with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over title holders West Indies in a rain-marred summit showdown here today.
The Australians skittled out the Caribbeans for a paltry 138 in just 30.4 overs before overhauling the revised target of 116 with 6.5 overs to spare to clinch the only silverware that had eluded them till now.
The world champions gave an awesome exhibition of their skills as they exploited the difficult track at the Brabourne stadium to the hilt to shatter the Caribbean hopes of retaining the title in a low-scoring floodlit tussle.
The lanky Nathan Bracken (3/22) was the pick of the Australian bowlers while the experienced Glenn McGrath and Shane Watson chipped in with two wickets each to rip through the West Indies batting which caved in meekly after a fine start by the in-from Chris Gayle (37) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (27).
The world champions were 45 for two when a thunderstorm interrupted the game for two and a quarter hours, resulting in the target being revised to 116 in 35 overs.
Opener Shane Watson (57 not out) and Damien Martyn (47 not out) did not take too many risks as they went about collecting the runs with ease to steer the team to a memorable title triumph.
Watson brought about the winning run by taking a single off Ramnaresh Sarwan, trigerring off wild celebrations in the Australian dressing room. |
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