The final of the 2023 ODI Cricket world cup took place today in Ahmedabad, India. The contending sides were India who had won 10 straight matches to get there and Australia who had finished third in the round robin and beaten South Africa in a tense semi-final. India had won two previous men’s world cups, in 1983 (one of the greatest upsets ever seen, when an unfancied side managed to down the West Indies, going for a third straight title after being rolled for 183 in their innings) and 2011 when they beat Sri Lanka in the final. Australia had won the trophy five previous times, in 1987 when they beat England in a hard fought final, 1999 when they squeaked past South Africa in the semi-final and Pakistan then went MIA in the final, 2003 and 2007 when they dominated both tournaments and 2015 when they beat New Zealand in the final.
THE PRELIMINARIES
Australia won the toss and chose to field first, a decision that looked quite likely to backfire at the time. Both teams were unchanged from their previous games.
THE INDIAN INNINGS
Shubman Gill was out early, but Rohit Sharma played the sort of innings he has been playing throughout the tournament, and the Power Play looked to have gone India’s way when they finished those 10 overs on 80-2, Sharma contributing 47 from 31 balls. Shreyas Iyer was then out cheaply to leave India three down, and it was the next passage of play that started the rot for India – Virat Kohli and KL Rahul dug in, as they had to with the team three down fairly early and having a very vulnerable tail to it, but they were too cautious, especially Rahul. KL Rahul did not hit a boundary until the 60th ball of his innings. Kohli was fourth out, not long after completing a 50, and India promoted Jadeja one place up the order, feeling it was too early for Suryakumar Yadav to come in. Jadeja did his job up to a point, but he was too defensive in approach to serve India’s best interests. When he and Rahul fell in quick succession that left Suryakumar Yadav to shepherd the most vulnerable tail of any of the top sides through an uncomfortably long period, and though he did just about see the innings through so that India batted their whole 50 overs a final total of 240 did not look great, and Suryakumar’s own innings of 18 off 28 balls was a poor one. Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Siraj batted together at the very end. Cummins with 2-34 from his 10 overs was Australia’s best bowler on the day, and had a new record wicket tally for a captain at a single world cup, overhauling Kapil Dev’s 1983 mark, while Adam Zampa had 1-44 from his 10, and that wicket drew him level with Muthiah Muralitharan for the most wickets taken by a spinner at a single world cup with 23 scalps. I think this effort in a final and across the tournament as a whole goes some way to answering Sidestream Bob as to why I included the leggie in my team of the tournament. India had a moderate total to defend, but while their batting, especially Sharma, Kohli and Rahul, had been good all tournament it had been their bowling that had set them apart from everybody else, and those worthies needed to prove themselves one last time to secure the trophy…
THE AUSTRALIAN INNINGS
Early wickets were needed for India to have a chance, and Bumrah and Shami obliged, having Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Smith back in the pavilion before the end of the Power Play. With the score 47-3 Australia looked in some trouble, and even at the end of the 10th over at 60-3 they were hardly comfortable. However, Travis Head, already Player of the Match in the semi-final, overcame a streaky start to play a quite magnificent innings, and while he always looked to attack Marnus Labuschagne dug in at the other end. In essence the partnership between these two did successfully what Kohli and Rahul had tried and failed to do for India. As the innings progressed Australia became firmer and firmer favourites, with few signs of the partnership being broken being apparent at any stage. Head completed his century off 95 balls, to almost no response from the packed Ahmedabad crowd. By the time Labuschagne reached 50 that crowd was decidedly less packed as many spectators having read the writing on the wall (which by then was metaphorically 1,000 point bold capitals) had made early exits. With just two needed for victory, and cricinfo’s win predictor giving Australia a win percentage of 99.99 Travis Head holed out for a magnificent 137. That brought Glenn Maxwell to the crease to apply the finishing touch, and he duly took two off his first and only ball of the match to give Australia victory by six wickets with seven whole overs to spare. Head was unsurprisingly named Player of the Match, while Virat Kohli, scorer of over 750 runs in 11 matches, was named Player of the Tournament. In the end, Australia, as they so often do, had found something extra in a really big match and it was a sixth ODI world cup for the Aussie men, to go with the seven that their women’s team gave already won.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
aspiblog 
Thrilling match it was!
A team of a cricket tournament largely comes down to numbers and opinion. As I said I’d relate Zampa’s numbers to the quality of the teams he had his best spells against and taking that into account, for me, over the whole tournament 44 for 1 off of ten in the final, doesn’t swing it his way. I’m sure he is a great bloke, good with kids, kind to old folk, a laugh at the bar and all that, but he didn’t always bowl his allocation and throwing the ball to Head when Zampa has overs left is telling!
As an aside, one of the great mysteries for me will always be how a batter who in 2021 averaged 18.30 for Sussex in Division Two of the County Championship can look the part in international cricket.