world cup five-fer: day 42

Smith falls early to start the rot.

By Tristan Holme

1. The toss
It looked like a good one to win, and for once Graeme Smith made the obvious decision in line with what the experts recommended. While the Beausejour pitch was a touch slow during the Group C games, today it looked as true as they come and there was barely a cloud in the sky.

Australia have traditionally batted first in the epic encounters between these two sides, and the first problem for South Africa seemed to be deciding how they should pace themselves. The nature of Smith and Jacques Kallis' dismissals suggested that they wanted to take the game to the Aussies, and on a small ground with a quick outfield such as this one there was no doubt that anything less than 250 would be well short.

All in all, the scene was set for another classic run-fest between the two sides with the strongest batting line-ups in the world. Unfortunately, one of them failed to show up...

2. The choker's tag
It seems to be an endless debate in the mailbox, as fans throw the tag back and forth at will. South Africa seem to be the recipients on most occasions, and up until now I considered that to be quite unfair. But did they choke this time?

Well, they did fail to turn up for the big occasion and missed the opportunity to put the bad memories of the past to bed. They also had the advantage from the start, having won the toss on a good batting wicket.

However to call South Africa chokers is to take credit away from a superb Australian side who just never seem to give an inch, and this seemed to be the feeling of Ricky Ponting in the press conference after the game as he preferred to give his side credit than throw the label at the opposition.

Meanwhile Smith, who appeared to be fighting off tears throughout the conference, denied that his side had choked and defined the word as he understands it.

"I definitely don't think we choked, we just weren't good enough on the cricket field today. We were outplayed and you've got to give credit (to Australia). For me, a choke is when you get close to winning and then cotch (vomit) all over yourself."

Nice.

3. Glenn McGrath
Regained his spot as the leading wicket-taker of the World Cup as he ripped through South Africa's middle order, leaving Ricky Ponting and the selectors with a quandary as to whether he should take the new ball again for the final.

Smith seemed to think that the decision to put Shaun Tait at first change was based on the wind direction, but in truth it was probably Australia's perfect bowling order.

While Tait can be ruthless with the new ball at times, his lack of control can take the pressure off the opposition early on when the ball is swinging. His strength is his pace, and bowling first change does not hamper this.

Meanwhile McGrath has all the control required to keep the new ball on target, but can be a touch flat if the ball isn't doing anything. So it will be interesting to see who gets the new nut against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

4. Michael Clarke
While Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting have made the headlines for blistering innings, Clarke has quietly gone about his business and today's innings was typical of him. At times, you barely notice that he's there as he dabs the ball around the ground and strokes the odd one to the boundary with consummate ease.

He's gone about things so quietly that few would guess him to have the best batting average of any Australian in this World Cup. He's currently averaging 85.6, and with a full-strength Sri Lankan bowling attack we can expect him to play a big part in the final. Indeed it could be the time when he comes out from under the radar and makes us all stand up and take notice of how big his contribution has really been.

5. The final
After six weeks of what has been a fairly uneventful World Cup on the pitch we finally have our two finalists, and for the fourth time in a row Australia are one of them. And not for the first time, they have to be the favourites having bulldozed their way through the tournament.

Smith pointed out that the finalists are the two sides with the most varied bowling attacks, and he's probably hit the nail on the head as far as identifying what set them apart from the rest.

The biggest question mark must hang over Sri Lanka's batting line-up, which can look rather frail if key players such as Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene fail to perform.

It's been a long, long journey with far too many one-sided games, so the least we can hope for is a decent spectacle to end it all.