There was only ever 4 teams who realistically had a chance of winning this, New Zealand, Australia, India and South Africa, the rest are/were just making up the numbers. Having bet on India and South Africa obviously I want them to win but Australia have just looked so strong to me. They bat very deep, almost every player is capable of putting together a match winning innings, the Aussie tail loves to wag. The Bowling attack has looked very good too, Mitchell Starc in particular. I can only hope India or South Africa can cause an upset.
South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in the 1st WC quarter final in Sydney South Africa 134 for 1 (de Kock 78*) - Sri Lanka 133 (Sangakkara 45, Tahir 4-26, Duminy 3-29)
India beat Bangladesh by 109 runs in the 2nd WC Quarter Final in Melbourne India 302 for 6 (Rohit 137, Raina 65, Taskin 3-69) - Bangladesh 193 (Nasir 35, Yadav 4-31, Shami 2-37)
Australia beat Pakistan by 6 wickets in the 3rd Quarter Final in Adelaide Australia 216 for 4 (Smith 65, Watson 64*) - Pakistan 213 (Haris Sohail 41, Hazlewood 4-35) Australia will play India in the semi final
Australia didn't impress me too much today, but they didn't get out of second gear. They are very strong, but none of the batsmen look in absolute top form and Pakistan might have pushed them had they got to 280 today. I think the other teams have more likely individual match winners. I have a feeling McCullum is going to have a big say at some stage.
He'll need to keep of the piss to do that which is unlikely given his liking for beer & red wine. Drinking the night before the biggest game of his life on Saturday isn't what I'd expect of a professional athlete. On the other hand Guptill wasn't seen drinking!!!
New Zealand beat West Indies by 143 runs in the 4th Quarter Final in Wellington New Zealand 393 for 6 (Guptill 237*, Taylor 3-71) - West Indies 250 (Gayle 61, Boult 4-44)
Great game to watch live this morning. New Zealand deserve to be in the final. I think they'll play Australia and I'd like to see their batsmen chase down 400 at the MCG. It's a big ground, but they have some big hitters.
New Zealand beat South Africa by 4 wickets (D/L method) in the first semi-final in Auckland New Zealand 299 for 6 in 42.5 overs (Elliott 84*, McCullum 59, Anderson 58, Morkel 3-59) - South Africa 281 for 5 in 43 overs (Du Plessis 82, De Villiers 65*, Miller 49)
Australia beat India by 95 runs in the second semi-final in Sydney Australia 328 for 7 (Smith 105, Finch 81, Yadav 4-72) - India 233 (Dhoni 65, Faulkner 3-59)
Australia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets to win the World Cup Final in Sydney Australia 186 for 3 (Clarke 74, Smith 56*) - New Zealand 183 (Elliott 83, Johnson 3-30, Faulkner 3-36) MOM - James Faulkner
Such a disappointing ending with McCullum out for 0. Had he hit 80 off 30 balls, we might have had a game. Best all round team won, but New Zealand are so explosive and I'd have loved to see them do themselves justice in the Final,