The supreme leaders of cricket, off course not Australians
I had been going around predicting who I thought would win the 2010 T20 World Cup. I thought Australia would easily beat Pakistan in the second semi-final and that they would have a tougher time against England in the final but would also win that contest. How wrong I was. They did manage to beat Pakistan in the semi-final but only barely by some fantastic batting by Michael Hussey. They made it to the final yesterday and then proceeded to lose to a very in form and dominate England side.
Australia came into the T20 World Cup seeded very low down in the rankings. They should though that they are one of the best cricketing sides in the world by being undefeated until the final. Whoever seeded them so low to begin with will probably have to back and do a lot of recalculating for the future. The semi-final that Australia played against Pakistan was one of the best T20 matches of all time, two very strong sides went head to head in a thrilling competition. Australia came out on top of that battle but not after a very valiant effort from the boys in green. They fought their hardest and only an in form and very strong and skilled team like Australia could have achieved such a large total. 190 run in T20 cricket is almost unheard of but the Aussies managed to pull it off in thrilling fashion.
The final was maybe not as thrilling a match as the semi-final but it was still a great three hours of cricket. Australia batting first only managed to put 147 runs on the board after their innings crumbling to a very fine England bowling line up fronted by the great named Ryan Sidebottom. As quick wickets fell, it seemed as if the Australians were losing hope and getting deflated. But a great knock by the Hussey brothers managed to take the total to a respectable 147. These two siblings have managed to save Australia at many an occasion with their fine batting displays. Michael Hussey effectively won the match for the Aussies against Pakistan in the semi-final and his brother David managed to salvage the total in yesterday’s final.
England played like champions throughout the match. The whole team was in form and played as a strong and confident unit. Their bowlers just wouldn’t let Australia take off and get a big score; they held Australia down and wouldn’t let their batters shine. Wickets kept falling and the score stayed pretty low in the Aussie innings. When it came time for them to bat the strong duo of Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen put up a massive partnership and took the score to 118 when they finally succumbed. But then the captain Paul Collingwood came in and took the score to the needed total and ended the match in great fashion by hitting a boundary of the last ball of the 17th over. The England side was so dominant that they won the match with three overs to spare. That seemed to be the icing on the cake for them.
They won a major tournament after a very long time, they managed to do it by beating the strongest and deadliest side in the tournament and they did it with three overs to spare.
This was a much deserved win for England because as Paul Collingwood said in the post match awards proceedings the England side had been practicing and training very hard for the last year and they have now gotten a very confident and strong side in form to win championships. I think that is what he said or something like that if my memory serves me correctly. Whenever these two teams get together to play a game of cricket, you just know it is going to be a thrilling encounter and the Ashes series just proves that point.
But the T20 victory was a great boost for the England side and for all of its individual players as well. Kevin Pietersen especially seemed to be over the moon, having been blessed with a newborn baby on Monday and then winning the tournament, he was one happy man when the final ball was hit for four runs to win the match. Hopefully this win will see the England side coming into their own and winning more matches now so we can see more thrilling and exciting encounters like the one we witnessed last night.
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