Australia win third successive World Cup title

Adam Gilchrist hit a smashing ton to propel Australia to their fourth World Cup title with a 53-run win over Sri Lanka in a rain-interrupted final here Saturday.

After first winning the World Cup in 1987, Australia again clinched it in 1999 and then in 2003. On Saturday, they have become the first team to win it three successive times.

Gilchrist hit a stroke-filled 149 to propel Australia to 281 for four wickets in 38 overs and then the Australian bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 215 for eight in 36 overs to win by Duckworth and Lewis method used for interrupted matches.

The match started late due to rains and was therefore reduced to 38 overs per side. More rains during Sri Lanka's chase forced the game to be further reduced to 36 overs and 13 runs were deducted from the target.

SCOREBOARD

Final, Australia vs. Sri Lanka, World Cup, Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados

Australia: Adam Gilchrist c Silva b Fernando 149 Matthew Hayden c Jayawardene b Malinga 38Ricky Ponting run out (Jayawardene) 37Andrew Symonds not out 23Shane Watson b Malinga 3Michael Clarke not out 8Extras: (leg byes 4, wides 16, no balls 3) 23Total: (for four wickets in 38 overs) 281

Fall of wickets: 1-172 (Hayden, 22.5 overs), 2-224 (Gilchrist, 30.3), 3-261 (Ponting, 35.4), 4-266 (Watson, 36.2)

Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 8 0 54 0 (2nb, 1w) Lasith Malinga 8 1 49 2Dilhara Fernando 8 0 74 1 (1nb, 4w) Muttiah Muralitharan 7 0 44 0 (2w) Tillakaratne Dilshan 2 0 23 0 (1w) Sanath Jayasuriya 5 0 33 0

Sri Lanka:Upul Tharanga c Gilchrist b Bracken 6Sanath Jayasuriya b Clarke 63Kumar Sangakkara c Ponting b Hogg 54Mahela Jayawardene lbw b Watson 19Chamara Silva b Clarke 21Tillakaratne Dilshan run out (Clarke/McGrath) 14Russel Arnold c Gilchrist b McGrath 1Chaminda Vaas not out 11Lasith Malinga st Gilchrist b Symonds 10Dilhara Fernando not out 1 Extras: (lb 1, w 14) 15Total: (for eight wickets in 36 overs) 215

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Tharanga, 2.1 overs), 2-123 (Sangakkara, 19.5), 3-145 (Jayasuriya, 22.6), 4-156 (Jayawardene, 25.5), 5-188 (Dilshan, 29.6), 6-190 (Silva, 30.1), 7-194 (Arnold, 31.5), 8-211 (Malinga, 33.6)

Bowling: Nathan Bracken 6 1 34 1 (1w) Shaun Tait 6 0 42 0 (2w) Glenn McGrath 7 0 31 1 (1w) Shane Watson 7 0 49 1 (3w) Brad Hogg 3 0 19 1Michael Clarke 5 0 33 2 (2w) Andrew Symonds 2 0 6 1

Result: Australia won by 53 runs (Duckworth & Lewis method)Toss: Australia (decided to bat)Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan)TV umpire: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) Reserve umpire: Brent Bowden (New Zealand)Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)

(IANS)

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