THAT’S FOR PHILLIP
Clarke hails tragic pal Hughes after Aussies claim fifth World Cup
An emotional Michael Clarke dedicated Australia’s unprecedented fifth World Cup triumph to his former teammate and f riend Phillip Hughes after his side trounced new Zealand in the final in Melbourne.
Clarke — who joins Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting ( twice) in t he pantheon of Australia’s World Cup-winning captains — scored a classy 74 in 72 balls in his last one-day international before quitting to focus on Tests.
And with Australia overhauling the new Zealanders’ disappointing total of 183 with seven wickets and nearly 17 overs to spare, he went out in style, watched by an MCG crowd of 93,013 — a world record for a single day’s cricket.
Referring to the black armband he wore in memory of Hughes, who died in november after being struck on the neck by a shortpitched delivery during a domestic game in Sydney, Clarke said: ‘I’ll wear it every game I play for Australia. For everyone in Australian cricket, it’s been a tough few months.
‘We played this World Cup with 16 players and this is certainly dedicated to our little brother and team-mate Phillip Hughes. Hughesy used to party as good as any of them, so I’ll make sure we drink two at a time — one for Hughesy and one for us.’
Hughes would have approved of the manner in which Australia crushed t heir t r ans-Tasman cousins, even if the neutrals were deprived of the climax which the tournament badly needed.
From the moment Mitchell Starc bowled new Zealand’s captain and talisman Brendon McCullum i n the f i rst over a sense of inevitability descended on the MCG. Here were the pre-tournament f avourites doling out a painful lesson to a team taking part in their first ever World Cup final.
The one-way traffic was held up only during a gutsy fourth-wicket stand of 111 between Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott, new Zealand’s hero during their semi-final thriller against South Africa.
But James Faulkner — named man of the match for figures of three for 36 — removed Taylor and the big-hitting Corey Anderson in the f i rst over of the batting powerplay and wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi fell in the next to the superb Starc.
Elliott went on to make 83 but new Zealand’s last seven fell for just 33 in 10 overs.
After eight successive games on their smaller, less-intimidating home grounds, in Melbourne they never came to terms with either the occasion or the relentlessness of the Australian attack.
The di s missal of Martin Guptill, who had hammered West Indies for an unbeaten 237 from 163 balls in t he quarter- f i nals, summed up their day: trying to dab a gentle off-break from Glenn Maxwell t hr o ugh backward point he was bowled for 15.
Australia lost Aaron Finch to Trent Boult in the second over of the reply but for new Zealand’s bowlers that was as good as it got.
David Warner hit 45 in 46 balls before Clarke j oined Steve Smith — his heir apparent — to pile on 112. After carting Tim Southee for four consecutive fours, Clarke chopped on against Matt Henry with nine runs still needed but Smith was there at the end, a fifth successive half- century in the bag.
As Australia prepared to celebrate i nto the night and beyond, it was left to McCullum to reflect on his side’s impressive showing at the tournament.
‘It’s been one hell of a ride for us,’ he said. ‘We played some outstanding cricket but we ran into an outstanding Australian team tonight. Full credit to them — they’re deserving champions.’
The f i nal may have been a letdown but no one could argue with that.