Anticipation lacking for long awaited end

It's been a strange old tournament; while there have been upsets, notably the progression of Ireland and Bangladesh at the expense of the subcontinental powers, the tournament has lacked excitement, with the desperately one-sided semi-finals doing little to justify the overlong preamble. The faults are many and well documented, but at least it has brought home the point that any ICC managed event is about as dull as a century partnerhsip between Chris Tavare and Matthew Hoggard would be. It is faintly extraordinary that they have managed to so comprehensively remove all the soul and joy assosciated with Caribbean cricket, but while they wave statistics around and proclaim a great success, those of sound mind can only reflect on a tournament with all the dramatic tension of a communist election.

Still, the protracted format has still produced the final that most people wanted; on the one hand, you have Australia, unbeaten since 1999, a veritable machine in one-day cricket which has had its problems in the last few years but has crucially produced the goods when needed, even lacking their strike bowler. There are two ways of looking at Australia's seamless progression to a fourth consecutive final. You could argue that they have been at no point made to work hard for victory and the opposition has been insufficient; they would like you to believe that their own brilliance has precluded anyone from coming close to them.

But machines can be derailed. Not by a lesser model, such as workmanlike South Africa, or insufficient England and West Indies. No, to knock the Australian peacock off its lofty perch requires a team which is capable of transcending the ordinary and producing the unbelievable. And, from the sun-cream smeared Vaas, the hair trailing Malinga, the idiosyncratic master Jayasuriya and the eternal beguiler Muralitharan Sri Lanka have the ability to be just that team. If Jayasuriya blazes away, backed up by the more articulate strokeplay of his captain Jayawardene and the classy Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan batting is capable of dealing with an Australian attack which has not yet been forced to lay it on the line. Nathan Bracken may have been deadly efficient so far, but he could have a very different experience if Jaysuriya starts pinging him back over his head or upper-cutting him over the ropes. Hayden has been proflific so far, but Vaas could be the man to get the lbw decision many have deserved. And for almost every cricket fan except those who wear thongs on their feet, this will be the desired outcome. Even if Australia do win, it would be good to see them tested; far better Glenn McGrath hits the winning runs in the last over than Ricky Ponting before the rum punches have started to take effect.

But while most are hoping for Australia to stumble, even if not terminally, a third consecutive title is what we should expect. If Jaysuriya falls early, as he so often does, a Sri Lankan batting order which is slightly shallow in quality could be exposed as it was in the Super 8 game between the two. Equally, Malinga has yet to be taken on, and it will be interesting to see if Hayden gives him the charge early. In what could be one of his last ODIs, Gilchrist is due a big one after a tournament where he has ridden in his partner's slipstream and his relative failures have been masked.

Ever since February, when Australia followed their loss of the CB series with some demoralising losses against New Zealand, people have been trying to find reasons why they will not win the World Cup. Even now, after a tournament which they have dominated for its tiresome entirety, there is some doubt. The smart money says that by tomorrow, there will be none.