world cup final five-fer

Gilchrist clubs another six.

By Nick Miller and Jonhenry Wilson

1 - Adam Gilchrist

Where else could we start?

Perhaps the best wicketkeeper batsman of all time has in truth had an inconsistent couple of years, every now and then showing us all what he can do but more often than not falling a little short.

However, today he performed when it really mattered. His 149 was the highest individual score in a World Cup final, beating Viv Richards' legendary knock in the 1979 showpiece.

If he is the next of the golden Aussie generation to bow out, then maybe the time would be now, on a magical high.

2 - Matthew Hayden

Hayden has been by some way the best batsman in the tournament, largely through brutal hitting without too much subtlety or finesse.

And yet in the final he played a rather modest supporting knock of 38, which showed the big Queenslander to be more than just a flat-track bully.

He clearly recognised that something special was happening at the other end, and was quite happy to sit back and let Gilchrist make merry with the Sri Lankan bowling attack.

This showed a complete lack of the ego that many thought might be the undoing of him at some point in the tournament, and gave his opening partner the freedom to bludgeon that magnificent innings.

3 - Glenn McGrath

Perhaps the greatest 'fast' bowler of his generation has bowled his last ball, snarled his last snarl and eked out his final wicket with that famous metronomic accuracy.

Oddly, although his final game was a World Cup final win, 'Pigeon' went out with something of a wimper.

In his mind he would surely have sent the off-stump of some poor unfortunate cart-wheeling to seal Australia's win and a five-fer for himself, but as it was he picked up just the one wicket and was even dragged out of the attack after being carted around the park somewhat by Jayasuriya and Sangakkara.

However, that shouldn't detract from what has been an exceptional career. As a cornerstone of what has been arguably the greatest team to ever play the game, McGrath bows out with an extraordinary 944 international wickets to his name, and batsmen from around the globe will be able to face the prospect of playing Australia with a little more confidence.

4 - Farce

The cricketing authorities never pass up a chance to make a fool of themselves.

With the game very clearly over, umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar offered the light to the Sri Lankans, who accepted, and shuffled off the field, leaving the Australians to whoop and holler as only they can, thinking they had won.

But no, the rulebook said the game was not over, and Sri Lanka were forced to rather humiliatingly slink back on to the field and face three more overs, that Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds rattled through in a couple of minutes.

The ICC generally take every chance they can to drive people away from this most wonderful of sports, be it ticket prices, stopping clips from the tournament from appearing on YouTube, and they didn't disappoint this time around.

5 - Irony And Greed

Oh how publicised the length of the World Cup has been!

We found great irony in the fact the culmination of the seven-week jamboree finished with a shortened game. Mother Nature had her say and the final was reduced to 38 overs each.

ICC head honcho Malcolm Speed reckons they'll reduce it by "seven or 10 days" next time around and "hopefully get it down to somewhere between five and six weeks." Even Matthew Hayden, the cricket glutton himself, thought it was a tad on the lengthy side.

Anyway, 47 days later, a bazillion over-priced match tickets left unsold and the ninth World Cup done and dusted, Speed and cronies can retreat to their HQ solaced with having turned a dollar or two.