Trans-Tasman Finale

CENTURION — Hot favourites Australia and underdogs New Zealand will meet for the first time in the final of a major tournament as the trans-Tasman rivals gave enough indications that they will retain the winning combination for Monday’s Champions Trophy 
final here.

Neither of them wants to tinker with the winning combination as both sides seemed to be happy with the squad that played in the semifinals.


Top form

Ricky Ponting is in prime form and he is the only Australian batsman who scored consistently in the tournament, and became the top scorer with 287 runs at an average of 95.66 from four matches. Shane Watson improved his average considerably after a belligerent 136 against England, but also had two ducks in the tourney. Michael Hussey also had a decent run, scoring 137 from three innings at an average of 45.66. Wicket-keeper Tim Pain is also among the runs with 122 runs.

Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill are top scorers for New Zealand as they scored 155 and 151 respectively in the tournament so far. South African-born Grant Elliott is back in form after the 75 he scored against Pakistan. With Ross Taylor and Vettori in the ranks, New Zealand have enough ammunition in batting provided they get a 
good start.

Bowling strength

In the bowling department, the Kiwis have lot of options, with almost all of their bowlers in good form. Ably guided by Vettori, who has seven wickets, Kyle Mills (5), Shane Bond (5), Elliott (4), the New Zealand bowlers could be quite handy against any opposition. But, on a good batting wicket, it remains to be seen how they fare as they lost the lone match played here against the 
South Africans.

All New Zealand wins in the tournament were achieved at the seamer-friendly Wanderers wicket. New Zealand will be pinning their hopes on Bond, who has taken five-wicket hauls three times against Australia.

Watson is the leading wicket-taker for Australia with six wickets, followed by Peter Siddle (5) and Brett Lee (4). Surprisingly Johnson has only three wickets from four matches at an average of 50! Their spinner Nathan Hauritz has a dismal tournament, having only two wickets from four matches.

Bumpy ride

Though Australians haven’t lost a single match in the tournament so far, they faced almost sure defeats but recovered well to finish on a winning note.In the league encounter against West Indies they were tottering at 7-171 at the start of the 39^th over, but a timely 77 off 47 balls from Johnson bailed them out. Again, in the match against Pakistan, they were on the verge of defeat before a 19-run ninth wicket partnership of Lee and Hauritz helped them to scrape through, qualifying for the semifinal. But they had a convincing nine-wicket demolition over England in the first semifinal here, helping to peak before the final. New Zealand, on the other hand, began their campaign on a losing note against South Africa, but found their winning touch against Sri Lanka on the back of sterling batting performances from Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill. Later, brilliant bowling from Shane Bond and Grant Elliott played a major role in defeating England.

Favourable record

The records are in favour of Australia, but New Zealand have already upset the calculations of many champion teams in the tournament.

The wicket here is expected to assist batsmen like the way it did in the first semifinals.

New Zealand are yet to win a match against Australia in their three previous meetings in the mini-World Cup.

The Aussie victory margin was 164 runs in Sri Lanka seven years ago, seven wickets in England in 2004 and 34 runs in India three years ago.

Ricky Ponting, who has two World Cups and a Champions Trophy to his credit, and Australian side would bank on their vast experience in major finals, while New Zealand would be keen to replicate their Champions Trophy title triumph in Kenya in 2000.