 Kensington Oval during the Final of 2007 Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and Australia | |||||||||
| Event | 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Australia won by 53 runs (D/L method) | |||||||||
| Date | 28 April 2007 | ||||||||
| Venue | Kensington Oval,Bridgetown | ||||||||
| Player of the match | Adam Gilchrist (Aus) | ||||||||
| Umpires | Steve Bucknor (WI) andAleem Dar (Pak) | ||||||||
| Attendance | 28,108 | ||||||||
←2003 2011 → | |||||||||
The2007 Cricket World Cup final was played on 28 April 2007 atKensington Oval inBarbados to determine the winner of the ninth installment of theCricket World Cup. This was the first time that Barbados hosted aCricket World Cup final.[1] Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 53 runs (under theDuckworth–Lewis method) to win their 4th World Cup title and 3rd in succession.[2][3] It was the second time that Australia and Sri Lanka played a World Cup final against each other, after1996.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka started their world cup campaign with victories over Bermuda, Bangladesh and India and became the table toppers of Group B. In the Super-8 stage they finished second as they had defeated West Indies, England, New Zealand and Ireland. However, they lost two of their matches to South Africa and Australia each. In the semi finals, they defeatedNew Zealand by 81 runs, and qualified for the final second time after 1996.[4][5]
Australia
Australia had dominated the tournament from the first match to the semi finals. They started their world cup campaign with victories over Scotland, Netherlands and South Africa and became the table toppers of Group A. In the Super-8 stage also they finished at the top as they had defeated West Indies, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. In the semi-finals, they defeatedSouth Africa by 7 wickets, and qualified for the final for a record sixth time after1975,1987, 1996,1999 and2003.[6][7]
This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat – the sides previously met in the1996 World Cup Final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia has won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss.[8] The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance and Australia's sixth, their fourth in a row.
Both teams remained unchanged from their semi-final matches. Australia's captainRicky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side.Adam Gilchrist's score of 149 – the highest in a World Cup final – helped give Australia an imposing total of 281.[9]
Sri Lankan batsmenKumar Sangakkara andSanath Jayasuriya added 116 for the second wicket, before falling with the score at 123 and 145 respectively.[9] Despite the regular loss of wickets, Sri Lanka managed to maintain a run rate of over 6 an over. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the culmination of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjustedDuckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light.
While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ponting agreeing to bowl only spinners. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory via the Duckworth–Lewis method.[10]The umpires later apologised for their error, and stated that the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs.[11][12]
Australia won the tournament undefeated, and established a streak of 29 World Cup games without a loss.[13] Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named Player of the Series and retired from all forms of international cricket.[14]
28 April Scorecard |
v | ||
Australia won by 53 runs (D/L method) Kensington Oval,Bridgetown Umpires:Steve Bucknor (WI) andAleem Dar (Pak) Player of the match:Adam Gilchrist (Aus) |
1st innings
 Australia batting[16] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate | |
| Adam Gilchrist | c Silva b Fernando | 149 | 104 | 13 | 8 | 143.26 | |
| Matthew Hayden | c Jayawardene b Malinga | 38 | 55 | 3 | 1 | 69.09 | |
| Ricky Ponting | run out (Jayawardene) | 37 | 42 | 1 | 1 | 88.09 | |
| Andrew Symonds | not out | 23 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 109.52 | |
| Shane Watson | b Malinga | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Michael Clarke | not out | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 | |
| Michael Hussey | |||||||
| Brad Hogg | |||||||
| Nathan Bracken | |||||||
| Shaun Tait | |||||||
| Glenn McGrath | |||||||
| Extras | (lb 4, w 16, nb 3) | 23 | |||||
| Total | (4 wickets; 38 overs) | 281 | |||||
Fall of wickets: 1/172 (Hayden, 22.5 ov), 2/224 (Gilchrist, 30.3 ov), 3/261 (Ponting, 35.4 ov), 4/266 (Watson, 36.2 ov)
 Sri Lanka bowling[16] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Chaminda Vaas | 8 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 6.75 | 1 | 2 |
| Lasith Malinga | 8 | 1 | 49 | 2 | 6.12 | 0 | 0 |
| Dilhara Fernando | 8 | 0 | 74 | 1 | 9.25 | 4 | 1 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | 7 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 6.28 | 2 | 0 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 11.50 | 1 | 0 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 5 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 6.60 | 0 | 0 |
2nd innings
| Sri Lanka batting[16] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate | |
| Upul Tharanga | c Gilchrist b Bracken | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 | |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | b Clarke | 63 | 67 | 9 | 0 | 94.02 | |
| Kumar Sangakkara | c Ponting b Hogg | 54 | 52 | 6 | 1 | 103.84 | |
| Mahela Jayawardene | lbw b Watson | 19 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Chamara Silva | b Clarke | 21 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 95.45 | |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | run out (Clarke/McGrath) | 14 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 107.69 | |
| Russel Arnold | c Gilchrist b McGrath | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |
| Chaminda Vaas | not out | 11 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 52.38 | |
| Lasith Malinga | st Gilchrist b Symonds | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 166.66 | |
| Dilhara Fernando | not out | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 | |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | |||||||
| Extras | (lb 1, w 14) | 15 | |||||
| Total | (8 wickets; 36 overs) | 215 | |||||
Fall of wickets: 1/7 (Tharanga, 2.1 ov), 2/123 (Sangakkara, 19.5 ov), 3/145 (Jayasuriya, 22.6 ov), 4/156 (Jayawardene, 25.5 ov), 5/188 (Dilshan, 29.6 ov), 6/190 (Silva, 30.1 ov), 7/194 (Arnold, 31.5 ov), 8/211 (Malinga, 33.6 ov)
| Australia bowling[16] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Nathan Bracken | 6 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 5.66 | 1 | 0 |
| Shaun Tait | 6 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 7.00 | 2 | 0 |
| Glenn McGrath | 7 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 4.42 | 1 | 0 |
| Shane Watson | 7 | 0 | 49 | 1 | 7.00 | 3 | 0 |
| Brad Hogg | 3 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 6.33 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Clarke | 5 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 6.60 | 2 | 0 |
| Andrew Symonds | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3.00 | 0 | 0 |
While the majority of the tournament passed without any major criticism of the umpires or errors on their part, the final was wrought with confusion and was described as a "farcical finish" to the competition.[17]
Rain affected the start of the match, reducing the contest to 38 overs a side, and further rain reduced the Sri Lankan innings to 36 overs. With Australia almost certain victors with just 3 overs to go, bad light began to affect play and the umpires seemed to offer the Sri Lankans the opportunity to leave the field for bad light. Both teams assumed this would have granted Australia victory that evening, but they were soon informed that if the light improved the match would have to continue; and if not then the final 3 overs would be played the next day. Sri Lanka's batsmen eventually came out and played out the final 3 overs regardless, and Australia were eventually crowned champions.
Match referee Jeff Crowe revealed a "communication breakdown" between himself, on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor and third umpire Rudi Koertzen was to blame for the mix-up,[18] which overlookedLaw 21 of thelaws of cricket. The law states that, in aOne Day International, providing a minimum of 20 overs have been played then a result can be reached using theDuckworth-Lewis system.
The ICC issued a statement apologising for occurrence of the incident, but said that none of those involved would be sacked.[19] Two months later it was announced that all five officials involved - the two on field umpires, the third and fourth umpires and the match referee - were to be reprimanded by suspension to prevent them officiating in the2007 World Twenty20.[20]
