On this day 17 years ago, Australia made history by becoming the first team to win three successive World Cup titles. They faced Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final on April 28. The match was hosted at the Kensington Oval in Barbados where Australia beat the Asian side by 53 runs.
Under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting, the Aussies exhibited unmatched consistency as they etched their names in the history books. Australia’s World Cup-winning streak began in 1999. They had defeated Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup final.
A second successive triumph came against a Sourav Ganguly-led Indian team. The Aussies got the better of the Men in Blue by 125 runs in the 2003 World Cup final.
On this Day in 2007, @CricketAus became the first team to win three consecutive Men’s Cricket World Cup trophies.We caught up with @gilly381, who shared some of his memories for an in-depth feature story on the historic achievement
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) April 28, 2021
Australia and Sri Lanka were the best teams at the 2007 World Cup hosted in the West Indies. The Aussies secured first place on the table with 14 points as Sri Lanka followed them in second place, having bagged 10 points.
Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand in the first semi-final by 81 runs while Australia dismantled South Africa, beating them by seven wickets, to seal their place in the final.
The final began with some interruption due to rain, leading to the match being shortened to 38 overs for each side. Australia’s prolific opening partnership of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden amassed 172. Hayden was the first to depart playing a fine knock of 38.
Adam Gilchrist was in blistering form as he scored a 72-ball century while smashing eight boundaries and six maximums. Ricky Ponting added another 37 runs before falling prey to a run-out from Mahela Jayawardene.
Australia’s fast-paced batting saw them accumulate 284 runs losing four wickets.
Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Upul Tharanga in only the third over of the run chase. The Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya duo anchored the innings for Sri Lanka by building a 100-run partnership.
Both batters scored a half-century each but they were soon dismissed by Michael Clarke and Brad Hogg. Following the dismissal of the two batters, Sri Lanka completely lost the plot and kept losing wickets in frequent intervals.
Rain added to Sri Lanka’s misery as it stopped the play for 12 minutes. The Mahela Jayawardene-led side’s target was reduced but it did not stop the Aussies from winning the match convincingly via the Duckworth Lewis method.
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