Although slightly overshadowed by Puttick’s play, JL Ontong played a spectacular innings by scoring unbeaten 39 from just 19 balls towards the end of the first innings. Ontong entertained the crowds by whacking four sixes.  Before that, JP Duminy, star of the previous game, put up an impressive batting exhibition along with his captain when the pair scored 95 in partnership.

In a courageous decision, the Otago Volts won the toss and chose to field, a decision that didn’t work in their favour at all. Interestingly, Somerset chose to field in the following game after winning the toss, although the results of the first match on the ground were out and the team who played first won comprehensively.

Right from the start the Cobras were undoubtedly on the top. They quickly realised that big hitting will be key to a good win. Having won the previous game against Bangalore on the opponents’ home ground in a thriller starring JP Duminy, they had little to fear. With this win, they sealed their place in the super eights with a smile, scoring 4 points in the tournament.

Defending 194, a strong score, Cobras always had the morals high in their side. Cobras significantly improved their fielding in this match, as compared to the last. This worked in their favour. For the overs they played, Otago volts were scoring at a descent rate but lost wickets at regular intervals. It wouldn’t be wrong to say the Cobras overpowered the Volts in all departments, be it fielding, bowling or batting. With Puttick hammering powerful shots around the ground, the batting of the Cobras was especially outstanding. The Volts conceded staggering 121 runs in the last ten overs.

In return, Otago Volts started well with Brendon McCullum and AJ Redmond putting together a 33 run partnership for the first wicket in just 3.5 overs. Overall the Volts put up a lackluster performance, with Nathan McCullum scoring the highest at 38 off 21 deliveries.

During the eighth over of Volts’ innings, Henry Davids ran Neil Broom out during his live conversation with the TV commentators, a fairly unusual incident in any form of the game. Herschelle Gibbs had a great day on the field with two superb catches and a run-out to his credit.

The losing captain, Crain Cumming looked disappointed by the loss as his team finds itself in a do-or-die situation in the next game against Bangalore. During the presentation, he mentioned that his team would love to hang around in India for more time as it gives good international cricketing experience to his young team.

As expected, Puttick won the Airtel Man of The Match Award for his batting exploits. For the Volts, Dimitri Mascarenhas won the Super Saver Bowler award for conceding only 20 runs in the four overs he bowled.

With their position secure in the next league having won both league matches, Cobras were the playing favourites today. Watch out for them in the next game!

Brief scores: Cape Cobras 193 for 4 (AG Puttick 104*, JL Ontong 39*, Mascarenhas 2-20) beat Otago Volts 139 all out (NL McCullum 38, RK Kleinveldt 3-24) by 54 runs.

Player of the Match: A G Puttick of Cape Cobras

Pakistan’s cricketers were accused of “deliberately underperforming” in the match to keep India out of the tournament by parliamentarian Jamshed Dasti, who is also the chairman of the Standing committee on Sports in the Lower House.

“They lost to Australia just to keep India out of the tournament,” Dasti had said.

But Hussey insisted that Pakistan did everything they could to win that match. “I batted for quite a bit of that game and I can tell you they were going at 100 per cent,” Hussey, who made 64 from 87 balls in that match, was quoted as saying by The Australian Associated Press.

“They were charging around and really keen to get the wickets and then try to win the game. From my point of view, where I was sitting, it’s definitely false accusations,” he said.

Watson, opening the batting, hammered 105 to complete his second successive century as Australia overhauled New Zealand’s total of 200 with more than four overs to spare to complete a six-wicket win retain the Champions Trophy. Watson, named Man of the Match for the second consecutive match, also made a hundred in the semi-final against England.

“I think people have now started to see the real Watson. He is showing everybody how good he can be,” Ponting said after the match.

The important thing about Watson’s innings was that he produced his best on two occasions when his team really needed it, first in the semi-final with Australia chasing 257 and then in the final with Australia struggling at 6-2, he and Cameron White (62) put on 128 for the third wicket to take Australia home.

The Australian skipper said he was happy to see the younger players making an impact in major tournaments.

“To see Watson and White stand up tonight and get us across the line was very satisfying. I think it’s one of our strengths that when the big names don’t stand up, others do the job,” said Ponting.

He said that the Aussies were looking forward to the tournament and even when they were playing in the seven match ODI series in England, which they won 6-1, they always had one eye on the ICC Champions Trophy.

“After the Ashes, ODI series started in England and we did well there to put ourselves in a position where we can give this tournament a little bit of a shake. We’ve played some great cricket over the last couple of weeks here,” said Ponting, who won the Golden Bat award for leading run scorer besides being adjudged the Player of the Tournament.

“Five months on the road has been a long time for the boys and we’ve played a lot of cricket. We always had one eye on the Champions Trophy and wanted to perform well in this tournament,” said Ponting. “To win a tournament as big as this one is a great reward for all the guys. It’s the second-biggest tournament after the World Cup, so it’s a very special achievement.”

Watson was beaming after playing yet another crucial knock and the dashing all-rounder said rebuilding the innings, from six for two wickets, was not an easy task.

“We needed discipline today, and we knew that if I was around till the 40th over, we had a chance. It was set up with Ricky’s help in the semi-finals to get me through, and he missed out today, but it was time for another to step up,” said Watson who was the obvious choice for the Man of the Match award for the second consecutive match. “The wicket today was a little slower than the other night but Kyle Mills and Shane Bond bowled beautifully straight up until me and White had a good partnership.”

Ponting also had encouraging words to say about New Zealand for making their second appearance in the final of the Champions Trophy despite being without key players, including captain Daniel Vettori, during the tournament. New Zealand won the second edition of the tournament, in 2000. They were already without batsman Jesse Ryder, all-rounder Jacob Oram and paceman Daryl Tuffey, and what came as a big blow, Vettori was ruled out of the final due to a hamstring injury.

“You have got to give a lot of credit to New Zealand. To lose the captain going into a big game was a major loss to them, but they performed very well,” said Ponting.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum led New Zealand in Vettori’s absence. “Losing him (Vettori) was a huge blow. He’s a huge player who we look to not only for performance but also for inspiration, so to lose him was obviously disappointing,” said McCullum.

The stand-in skipper said his bowlers could have put pressure on the Australian batsmen if New Zealand had managed to reach 250. “I think if we could have got 250, the game would have been different. Kyle Mills and Shane Bond were brilliant, but unfortunately we didn’t provide them enough runs,” said McCullum. “We are disappointed, but we are proud of what we have achieved. We are proud of the desire and the passion the team has shown through some tough times.”

The story of the final could have been very different for New Zealand had McCullum not dropped a difficult chance from White off paceman Ian Butler when the batsman was on 15 and the total was 41. “It was crucial. Unfortunately, one went down and I was responsible for it,” said McCullum.

South African left arm pacer Wayne Parnell (11 wickets) won the Golden Ball award for the highest wicket-taker, while the Australian team members were given the special winner’s jacket.

The defending champions hit the right notes from the first over of the game itself and except for a brilliant fast bowling spell by New Zealand’s opening bowlers, which was the only time when Australia looked in some sort of trouble, they always remained on top of their game and again proved that when it comes to the big matches, they are still the team to beat.

Watson smashed an unbeaten 105 (129 balls, 10X4, 4X6) and was part of a match-winning third-wicket partnership with Cameron White (62) under tremendous pressure as the Aussies were reduced to 6 for 2 with some brilliant fast bowling by Kyle Mills and Shane Bond. But they overcame the sedate start to chase down the target of 201 in just 45.2 overs.

Earlier, an already depleted Kiwi side got a major jolt when skipper Daniel Vettori was declared unfit for the final. Stand-in skipper Brendan McCullum won the toss and opted to bat first but New Zealand batting disappointed again and they somehow fumbled their way to 200 for nine.

Vettori’s last minute pullout with a hamstring injury was just the beginning of New Zealand’s nightmare. As if losing Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey and Jesse Ryder at different stages of the tournament wasn’t bad enough, the Kiwis walked out in the middle for the Final against the best team in the world without their inspirational captain and man-in-form Vettori.

This was a huge blow for the Kiwis as Vettori was New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with seven scalps under his belt besides leading their batting averages. Jeetan Patel was picked in his place but New Zealand were clearly not the same force in the absence of Vettori.

McCullum was left to rue his decision to bat first very quickly as into the 27^th over of the match, half of the Kiwi team was already back in the pavilion. Brendan McCullum (0) himself being the seniormost batsman, let his team down the most. He couldn’t manage a single run of the bat in the first two overs and after fumbling around for 14 balls, he edged one off Peter Siddle to leave New Zealand at 5-1.

The Australian pacers didn’t loosen the noose for even a single moment as Martin Guptill and Aaron Redmond tried to provide some stability to the innings. They added 61 runs for the second wicket but took 15.1 overs to do so. Australia struck again in the 19^th over when Aaron Redmond (26) was deceived by Nathan Hauritz and Tim Paine made no mistake behind the stumps completing a comfortable stumping.

Guptill had played well till then, getting a good platform to build on but he too threw it away as he offered the simplest of return catches to Hauritz and left his team tottering at 77 for 3 in the 23^rd over. The wickets kept falling with Ross Taylor (6), the next to go, caught by Hussey at cover point off the bowling of Johnson. Brett Lee then came back to remove the in-form Grant Elliot (9) with a brilliant in-swinging Yorker to trap him plumb in front of the wickets and the Kiwis were 5 down for just 94 in the 27^th over.

Neil Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) then tried to put things in order for the Kiwis adding 65 for the sixth wicket and taking New Zealand past the 150 mark. But just as both of them started to accelerate, they fell in quick in succession and New Zealand barely managed to reach 200 for nine. For Australia, Nathan Hauritz was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 37 off 10 overs while Brett Lee took 2 for 45 off his 10 overs.

Considering Australia’s batting line-up, it seemed like the match will be a one-sided affair but Kiwi new ball bowlers, Shane Bond and Kyle Mills, didn’t give up easily, making Australia earn each run that they scored. They struck early blows and injected some drama into the otherwise one-sided final.

Shane Bond’s second delivery removed Tim Paine (1) and Mills then got the prized scalp trapping the in-form Ricky Ponting (1) in the next over to reduce Australia to six for two wickets inside the first three overs. They continued to build pressure as Australia faltered and fumbled to 34 for 2 after the first 15 overs. But Watson and White were determined to retain the title for Australia. They did not panic and ran hard between the wickets while scoring occasional boundaries.

The duo paced the run chase with utmost maturity, first weathering the storm and then opening up. Mills eventually returned to remove White (62) but the stand had yielded 128 precious runs by then and even Michael Hussey’s (11) wicket came too late as Australia had all but pocketed the match. Watson wrapped it up in style, hitting two successive sixes to romp home.

This is Australia’s second consecutive ICC Champions Trophy title after they won the last tournament in India a couple of years back.

Brief Scores:

Australia 206 for 4 (Watson 105*, White 62, Mills 3-27) beat New Zealand 200 for 9 (Guptill 40, Hauritz 3-37, Lee 2-45) by six wickets

Man of the Match: Shane Watson (Aus)

Batsman of the Series (Golden Bat): Ricky Ponting (Aus)

Bowler of the Series (Golden Ball): Wayne Parnell (South Africa)

Australia, the defending champions after having won the elite ICC event the last time in India, is the only unbeaten team in the tournament having defeated Pakistan, West Indies and England on their way to the final. Their match against India was called off due to rain.

“We’ve done everything that we’ve needed to so far. We’re happy with the way we’ve played our one-day cricket over the last three or four weeks,” Ponting told reporters on Sunday. “As I said after the England game, it’s been about making sure we were ready for the big moments. We were in the semi-final and we’ll make sure we’re ready for the big moments tomorrow as well.”

Ponting said that so far he was satisfied with the team’s performance in the tournament but he expects them to maintain the momentum. “My expectations have always been very high,” he said. “Our first couple of performances in this tournament were very good. We had a little bit of a glitch against Pakistan, the last half of our batting, but we rectified that very quickly against England.”

Australia lost the Ashes earlier this year but their One-day form has been top-notch with the Aussies winning 10 out of the last 11 matches that they have played. “It’s been a long time on the road. We’ve played a lot of very good cricket,” he said.”If we happen to play well on Monday and win the tournament, we’ll look back on the last five months as being a really good period in Australian cricket.”

Ponting said that Australia cannot underestimate the Kiwis and need to keep the intensity high against them. The Kiwis have already exceeded everyone’s expectations by reaching the finals despite them having lost some of their key players in Jesse Ryder, Jacob Oram and Daryl Tuffey.

“They play to their strengths and they do it very well. They’re a very disciplined side and have been for a number of years. They’ll always try and give their 100 percent,” he said. “We have to match them in that department and let our skills take over everything else. We just have to put up a performance and not try too hard for anything spectacular.”

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, on the other hand, said that their bowlers needed to make early breakthroughs and build pressure on the Australian top-order in order to gain the early advantage. “Their top order has been outstanding. They have played very well. If we can do it (keep pressure) that will enable us to have a chanace,” said Vettori.

Vettori said that despite the team facing injuries to key players, it was team-effort which was instrumental to his side’s success. “I can’t let it (injuries) worry me because it’s nothing I can control. The reason we have come so far is that we’ve had team performances,” he said.

“A number of guys have stepped up and allowed us to win. We may not have had too many stars in the tournament, but if you look at every game we’ve had six-seven guys step up and really perform. We have got to put emphasis on our performance. I think the top eight teams here all believed that they can win on the day and we’re no different,” he said.

New Zealand has won the tournament only once when they defeated India in the finals of the then ICC knock out tournament, at Nairobi in 2000.

Squads:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (Captain), David Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin, Doug Bollinger.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Raymond, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey.

Chasing a total of 234 to win, New Zealand were in trouble at one stage with the score reading 126-4 in 30 overs as Aaron Redmond (31) and Ross Taylor (38) got starts but couldn’t convert them into big scores. But Grant Elliot (75 not out off 103 balls) played the best innings of his career and along with skipper Daniel Vettori (41 off 42 balls) added 104 runs for the fifth wicket to help New Zealand reach the victory target in 47.5 overs.

Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan got off to a steady start with openers Imran Nazir and Kamran Akmal adding 46 runs for the first wicket in 9.4 overs before Nazir (28) got a peach of a delivery from Shane Bond and Ross Taylor took a comfortable catch at first slip to send him back to the pavilion. Shoaib Malik (2) was the next to go caught brilliantly by Taylor at first slip off the bowling of Ian Butler.

Ian Butler struck again in the 15^th over as he dismissed the dangerous looking Kamran Akmal (24) caught by Redmond at sweeper cover. Pakistan’s downslide continued as skipper Younis Khan (15) was dismissed cheaply with Vettori doing the damage this time. His opposite number flighted it on the off-stump, Younis wanted to work it to the onside but all he managed was a leading edge and Ross Taylor pouched a dolly at short cover.

Mohammad Yousuf is not new to such crisis and he once again took it upon himself to haul Pakistan out of the hole in the company of Akmal. But the cautious approach meant that boundaries were not easy to come by. It was at this stage that Akmal decided to play the aggressor’s role, leaving grafting to his senior partner Yousuf. The young right-hander went after Vettori, hitting the Kiwi skipper for successive boundaries on two occasions to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Eventually Yousuf fell five-run shy of his half-century when Kyle Mills castled him and while Akmal did bring up his second fifty in ODI cricket, the youngster fell to Vettori two overs later, trigging another batting collapse. It was Mohammad Aamer (19) and Saeed Ajmal’s (14) gutsy partnership of 35 runs off 34 balls for the last wicket that took Pakistan to a fighting total of 233 for 9. For New Zealand, Ian Butler (4/44) and skipper Daniel Vettori (3/43) were the pick of the bowlers.

New Zealand’s chase got off to an eventful start with Brendon McCullum (17) sending the second ball of the innings to the stands before Aamer returned to settle score with him in the fifth over as a tumbling Shahid Afridi took the skier. Martin Guptill (11) looked promising for a while as he pulled a six of Naved-ul Hassan but his stay was cut short by Umar Gul’s first delivery. Redmond and Taylor then batted sensibly to provide stabilility to New Zealand’s chase but both fell just when their team needed them the most. Redmond (31) offered a simple catch to bowler Ajmal while Afridi (38) castled Taylor.

Elliot and Vettori then joined hands to steady the ship and they played sensibly to frustrate the Pakistanis. They added 104 for the fifth wicket before Vettori was dismissed in the 47^th over for 41 off 42 balls as he was deceived by an Ajmal delivery and Kamran Akmal completed the stumping. Elliot and Neil Broom (3) made sure that New Zealand got home safely as they completed the victory with more than 2 overs remaining and 5 wickets in hand.

Coming into this tournament, nobody gave the Kiwis any chance of making it to the semi-finals. But the Kiwis, known for their fighting spirit, proved once again that why they are considered one of the most dangerous teams in One-Day cricket. Now, after having reached the finals, they would surely fancy their chances against Australia whom they have troubled on more than one occasion in the past.

The final will be played on Monday at Centurion.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 234 for 5 (Elliot 75*, Vettori 41, Ajmal 2-39) beat Pakistan 233 for 9 (Umar Akmal 55, Butler 4-44, Vettori 3-43) by five wickets

Man of the Match: Daniel Vettori

Four of the six matches played at the Wanderers in this tournament have been low-scoring affairs, with fast bowlers calling the shots on lively pitches having both pace and bounce. Pakistan are high on confidence after having performed well in all of their three games, beating arch-rivals India and the West Indies before losing a close match against defending champions Australia.

The Pakistan team is full of talented fast bowlers in Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif. Their spinners Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal have also been top notch so far in the tournament.

Pakistan captain Younus Khan conceded that he faces a selection dilemma ahead of the semi-final, especially after paceman Mohammad Asif’s impressive performance (2-34) against Australia. Asif, playing his first one-dayer after serving a one-year ban for a failed dope test, replaced teenager Aamer in the last game.

“It’ll be a tough call. We’ll try and make the right decision on the day,” Younus had said after the last match. “In the semi-final, it doesn’t matter who you play against or where you play because it is a big game. Pressure is not only on us, but also on New Zealand. If we get through two more games we are the champions.”

New Zealand, on the other hand, have won both their games at this venue beating Sri Lanka and England to make it to the semi-finals after coming to the tournament as the underdogs with no one expecting them to go beyond the first stage. They were well-served by seamer Grant Elliott who was named man of the match for bagging four wickets in his team’s victory over England in their last league game on Tuesday.

New Zealand also has a world class fast bowling attack in Kyle Mills and Shane Bond, who are capable of making life difficult for batsmen on helpful tracks. They will also be keen to better their performance in big matches, having fallen in the semi-finals of the 2006 Champions Trophy in India and the 2007 World Cup in Caribbean.

It will be the first one-day international between the two teams since October 2006 when New Zealand beat Pakistan in a league match of the same tournament’s last edition. New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill said that the team’s morale was high going into the match.

“Our confidence level is high at the moment,” said Guptill. “We are extremely confident of putting up a good performance in the semi-final against Pakistan. They are a very good side, but I think we are capable of matching them.”

Squads:

New Zealand (from): Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Ross Taylor, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Iain O’Brien, Aaron Redmond, James Franklin.

Pakistan (from): Younus Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG)

TV umpire: Daryl Harper (AUS)

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)

Defending champions Australia romped over England in the semi-final on Friday to move to the finals of the elite ICC event with Watson and Ponting himself scoring magnificent centuries. During his innings of 111 not out, which was his 28^th ODI hundred, Ponting also became the first Australian to cross 12,000 ODI runs. Ponting, in an interview right after the win, said that he had no idea that he was approaching the milestone.

“They are nice achievements. I will look at it when I finish my career. David Hussey came to me and said you are close to 12,000 runs, I said ‘I have no idea’,” he said.

The Australian skipper also lauded his bowlers for providing the side a good start on a batting-friendly track though he admitted that they let England loose in the middle-overs.

“The bowing was pretty good. We took wickets when we needed upfront. I thought in the middle we got carried away in that situation of the game. (Tim) Bresnan and (Luke) Wright played well. The wicket was exceptional and ground was fast,” he said.

Shane Watson, who was chosen Man-of-the-Match for his powerful 136 run knock and picking up 2 crucial wickets, was happy to get a hundred under his belt after a very poor show so far. Watson was out for nought in the first two matches and managed 24 against Pakistan in the last groups-stage match.

“It was nice to get that (hundred). To bat with Ricky really helped me. We played well. We took wickets on a beautiful wicket. I have learnt a lot from the greats in the side and now that they have retired, it’s our turn to raise our hands (to do job),” he said.

The pair, who played probably the best innings of their respective careers, added 252 runs for the second wicket as the defending champions chased down the victory target of 258 in just 41.5 overs. The Aussies continued to torment England, whom they had recently given a 6-1 drubbing in a seven match ODI series in England, to earn their second shot at the Champions Trophy title.

Ponting and Watson, who in fact outscored his skipper on way to his third ODI hundred, put on an amazing display of attacking batting as they smashed the England bowlers all around the park. En route to his 28^th ODI hundred, Ponting also became the first Australian batsman to score 12,000 ODI runs.

The defending champions will now meet the winner of the Pakistan-New Zealand match to be played on Saturday in the title clash to be played on Monday at Centurion.

Earlier, England skipper Andrew Strauss won the toss and opted to bat first on a good batting wicket. But England didn’t have the start that they would have hoped for as they lost Strauss (14) in the second over itself with James Hopes taking a spectacular catch at square leg off the bowling of Peter Siddle. England got into further trouble as Owais Shah (0) feathered one to wicket-keeper Tim Paine off the bowling of Brett Lee in the very next over.

Paul Collingwood and Joe Denly then put together 55 runs for the third wicket to put the England innings back on track. Collingwood looked in sublime touch making 34 off just 30 balls with 5 boundaries and a six in his innings. But he couldn’t convert his start into a big innings falling caught behind the wicket as he tried to pull a Mitchell Johnson bouncer but could only manage to glove it to the wicket keeper.

Peter Siddle then removed the well set Denly (36) and Shane Watson got rid of debutante Steve Davies (5) and youngster Eoin Morgan (9) in quick succession to leave England struggling at 101-6 in the 21^st over. That brought Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright at the crease and the two batted brilliantly to take England to a respectable total.

Bresnan, who replaced Stuart Broad in the side, smashed a career best 80 off just 76 balls and added 107 runs for the 7^th wicket with Luke Wright (48) to lift England from 101-6 and take them past the 250 runs mark. Bresnan’s splendid knock included 11 boundaries while Wright smashed two fours and two sixes in his 48 off 68 balls.

Peter Siddle, who was named the ICC Emerging player of the year just a night before this match, got the breakthrough for Australia when he had Wright caught behind but England continued to counter-attack as Graeme Swann joined Bresnan to take England forward. Swann supported his partner well with some smart batting before running himself out on the first ball of the batting powerplay which cost England atleast 20-25 extra runs.

Bresnan’s excellent innings ended when he attempted an extravagant shot off Brett Lee but was beaten by his pace and saw his stumps getting rattled. The tail-enders couldn’t add much to the total and England were bowled out for 257 in 47.4 overs as they failed to utilise more than two overs which were also the poweplay overs. For Australia, Peter Siddle was the most successful bowler with figures of 3-55 while Lee (2-46) and Shane Watson (2-35) took two wickets each.

Australia got into early trouble as they began their chase of 257 to win as Tim Paine (4), who had an outstanding day behind the wickets with five catches, failed with the bat and edged an Onions out-swinger straight to wicket-keeper Davies with just 6 runs on the board. Skipper Ricky Ponting joined Shane Watson at the crease and they made sure that Australia got home comfortably and secured a place in the final for themselves.

Ponting was in sublime touch as he drove elegantly all around the park, hitting 12 graceful boundaries and a six in his 115-ball knock off 111 not out. Watson shrugged off a poor start to the tournament and struck form when it mattered. His aggressive 132-ball knock was laced with 10 fours and seven powerful sixes.

The duo flayed the English attack with utter disdain and ruthlessly dashed their hopes. Graham Onions (1-47) was the only successful bowler for England.

England’s Champions Trophy campaign has been one of their most successful ODI campaigns in recent times but in the end they could still just manage a 50-50 success rate in their four games. Australia, on the other hand, is well on their way to another ICC title and with this kind of form, they wouldn’t really worry about who they have to face in the final.

Brief Scores:

Australia 259 for 1 (Ponting 111*, Watson 136*) beat England 257 (Bresnan 80, Wright 48, Siddle 3-55) by nine wickets

Man of the Match: Shane Watson

After pulling off a last-ball win against Pakistan, Ponting lavished praise on the Pakistan bowlers for making life difficult for the Aussie batsmen and said that they would have to do some soul-searching before they take on England in the second semi-final on Friday.

“It was quite emotional and chilling to sit there in the dressing room and it really got too close. But we have crossed the line and we will meet England in the semi-finals in a couple of days’ time,” Ponting said. “We had a very good series against England over there but its different conditions here and I think they are playing really good cricket. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what went wrong in the last half an hour and make sure we play well in the next match on Friday.”

Ponting said that the Pakistan bowlers should be given credit for bowling like they did on a bouncy Centurion pitch and luckily for Australia they were able to restrict Pakistan for a small score.

“It was pretty tough to score runs. There was inconsistent bounce and pace for new ball bowlers and it was difficult getting them away,” he said. “But we knew it will be over and spinners will come into play and I think we are very lucky to restrict them to that total because there bowlers really bowled very well and did a good job in the last half an hour.”

His Pakistan counterpart Younis Khan was all praise for his bowlers for turning the game on its head and almost curving out a victory. “Actually after we lost the toss, Australia bowled fantastically to restrict us around 200 and they had good partnerships in the middle but suddenly our bowlers almost turned the match so I think it was a good finish,” he said.

“Whenever you take wickets, there lies the game. It looked like we will lose the match easily but then suddenly we had some fantastic bowling from a couple of our bowlers who took wickets and we were in the game,” he added.

Asked about the spongy track at the Centurion, Younis said the wicket was soft but far from being unplayable. “In the morning it was soft, but second half it was good… generally, it wasn’t a bad wicket to play cricket,” he said.

Asked if there are happy to take on New Zealand in the semis, Younis said it doesn’t matter because it will boil down to the team which will play good cricket on the day. “I am always happy. It doesn’t matter who we play, whether it is England, Australia or any team in the semis or final. We just have to stick to our plans and play good cricket and we can be winners,” he said.