 England beat Australia in the final to win their first ever ICC World T20 at Bridgetown in Barbados. In doing so, they won their first ever World Cup tournament
after 35 years since the World Cups first started in cricket.
In the final, the Aussies were simply outplayed, as they managed to score only
147 in their 20 overs and in reply England scored those runs in 17 overs and
losing only three wickets. Australia lost three wickets in three overs to slump
to 8/3 at one stage, and Michael Clarke continued to struggle with the
bat, as he departed to leave them at 45/4.
Only 47 came off the first ten overs of the Aussie innings and that meant that
the side, despite getting 100 runs in the last ten, managed only 147. Cameron
White started to hit out in the slog overs, whereas David Hussey smashed a half
century but with Michael Hussey playing only ten balls, he scored 17 and the
Aussies were restricted.
Still, the Australian bowling has been the talk of the tournament, and could
have probably saved the day for the side. However, after getting an early wicket
of Michael Lumb, the side failed to get anything else, as the pair of Craig
Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen, made the Aussie bowlers struggle.
England added a century run stand through the two of them and by the time both
were dismissed, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan's task to score the
runs had become very easy and they won with three overs to spare.
England had entered the semi-final by easily beating Sri Lanka in the first
semi-final, whereas Australia had won the second semi-final by overcoming Pakistan
in a thrilling encounter. In the league games, in the Super Eight, both, Australia
and England had won all three of their matches.
Australia beat India, West Indies and Sri Lanka, in a one-sided show in the
Super Eights, whereas England overcame the powerful South Africans, then beat
Pakistan and overcame New Zealand to enter the semi-final.
The first round had seen Australia being tested by Bangladesh but beating
Pakistan rather easily, whereas England had gone on to lose to West Indies and
then had their game against Ireland abandoned. This meant that England
was the only team to have qualified for the Super Eight stage with no win under
their belt.
Kevin Pietersen won the man of the tournament award for his amazing run of
form with the bat and in the field.
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