Victory

Australia were sent in by India, and chose the World Cup final to hit their highest score in the 700 or so one day internationals they have played. India have no hope, unless Tendulkar can play the greatest innings in World Cup history. (I think Ricky Ponting may have done this already today.His 140 not out was extraordinary).

Update: And Australia did it, bowling India out for 234 and winning the match by 125 runs to complete an undefeated and utterly brilliant tournament for them, as well as their seventeenth one day international victory in a row. A great effort, although Australia were not quite as good in the field as they were with the bat, and I thought Ponting's captaincy left a little to be desired in the field. A round up of the match and the tournament from me later.

Erratum: Australia have in fact played 534 One Day Internationals. The "about 700" was a number I pulled out of the air because I did not have time to look it up. It remains extraordinary that Australia should be able to produce their highest score out of that many matches in the most important game of all - a World Cup final. Okay, Australia have played in five World Cup finals, so you would expect there to be only one chance in a hundred that this would normally be true. (Actually, given that the opposition in a World Cup final is expected to be much stronger than in many other matches, you would expect the odds to be even longer. This just shows the Australian side's ability to rise to the occasion).