Mitchell Starc wins Cricket World Cup player of the tournament

I also don't think Boult is nearly as threatening in the latter overs as Starc. He seemed to get most of his wickets earlier on. Starc was regularly going for 3rpo or less during the batting power play and last 10 overs. That's something I don't think Boult could match. Once it stopped swinging he went for some runs a few times. (NOTE: He did bowl very well, I'm not trying to suggest he didn't, just that he wouldn't necessarily have the same fear factor towards the end of the innings that Starc has had).

@ Frank O'Keeffe - guys like you are NEVER satisfied - what a ridiculous comment! This is sport it cannot be pre-arranged. If you felt it wasn't exciting you were never really interested in the first place. Perhaps lawn bowls is your sport?

Having Starc overs looming at the close is such a good point. It's excellent captaincy by Clarke and something McCullum generally failed to do (one of very few failings I must add; he's been generally excellent). McCullum, like in his batting, looked to punish early by using up his strike bowlers, but if a team saw them off than there wasn't too much left to be scared of. With Australia, Clarke made the opposition feel rushed knowing they'd be facing Starc and Johnson at the close.

Yes, it certainly is the case. I can't agree that New Zealand just didn't play well. I actually think that Australia came out in this match and played an awesome match and New Zealand simply played as well as Australia allowed them to. They just keep coming at the opposition, give them no real relief, and either finish them with a brilliant ball or by just keeping the pressure on until the batsman makes a mistake. With the bat, Warner came out and batted really well. Defending a small total, McCullum had to attack, but he also had to try and avoid Warner spanking his bowlers all over the place or the game could have been over in no time. So after Warner has had a few good overs, hitting lots of boundaries, he forces some of those slips to come out. That's what happens.

Sri Lanka got pretty close in 96....

Steyn actually had a pretty poor WC overall.

Check out the results in all Australia's World Cup Final wins. New Zealand here got about as close to Australia as anyone has in a World Cup Final since 1987. I always thought Australia probably took a lot more out of the Eden Park match than NZ and would be 1000x better should they meet again in the final, and that's what transpired. The Starc effect is actually a really big thing too. When he's still got 4-5 overs looming towards the end to bowl in the powerplay and at the death, with most teams just hoping to survive against him at that stage, and nobody really able to get onto him at all, it increases the desperation to get the runs off the other bowlers, and with a bowling lineup including Johnson, Hazlewood and Faulkner, who aren't that easy to get after either, and Maxwell and Watson able to bowl well enough to often pick up a wicket or two if the batsmen try to target them, it's a really tough bowling lineup to get away. Australia bowled out every single side they faced in the world cup with the exception of NZ at Eden Park, and there they got the 9 wickets down after 25 overs. That's an impressive bowling performance at the World Cup. Batsmen have got plenty of headlines in this WC, but it's the bowlers who've won the WC, with the best bowling lineup winning, the second best coming second, and the next two best reaching the semi-finals.

I'd loved to have seen your guys get to 250 odd Targa - it would have been interesting.

Did they play their final against SA moa? It would have been difficult to get back up after that amazing win. Regardless, kudos to the Black Caps for making this a thrilling tournament and I can't wait for a test series between the two sides.

Isn't beautiful bowling giving nothing away to force a false stroke? That's the way I see it.

Well doneStarc - absolutely magnificent. The bloke has been better than Wasim Akram in this tournament. I still think the key was the batting powerplay. We were back in it but Faulkner clinched the game with those wickets. If (huge if) we'd survived the pp and only scored at 4-5 an over we'd have been 170/3 after 40 with Taylor set to explode and finishers coming in later. 260/270 might have made it interesting. Ifs and buts eh! Well done Australia. Your cricket team might not be very likeable, but they know how to win.

Andrew---quite a number of NZ wickets were awful shots rather than beautiful bowling.What the aussie bowlers did exceptionally well was bowl good lines. Incidentally--that is where NZ's own standards slipped the most.Our bowlers resorted to trying to bowl the 'miracle ball' instead of sticking to the disciplined approach that hasserved so well all summer. Williamson & Sothee lost form as the tournament progressed.Taylor and Elliott got better.I think the schedule exposed Vettori and Boult who shouldered big burdens.

I would hope you would always be honest Frank---but good of you to tell us on the occasion that you are.Thanks. For the record-I agree with your comment.NZ didn't handle the big(gest) stage well.We(they) froze in the headlights-which was sad because they lit this tournament up with their play throughout. That they couldn't deliver in the Final was a real pity. What they have achieved shouldn't be forgotten or dismissed by a singularly bad performance.

But the Kiwis beat the Saffies end of story, Morkel & Steyn were not impressive at all, their spinner & part time spinners were the surprise packet so to me the Saffies would have been flogged as well but the game would have taken a different scenario if the Kiwis had put the Aussies in first.

Starc was unbelievable! NZ was just done by beautiful bowling. Hard to make a big total with the way Australia played as they were switched on from ball 1. Well done Aussies. Well played NZ, you deserve credit for Guptill being highest run scorer and Boult equalling Starc's wickets (awesome bowling). Many teams will look forward to the challenge of playing against you guys in the future.

That first over was incredible. Set the tone for the Aussies for the rest of the game. Disappointed with how NZ played, they didnt show up at all today. I think the talk of the difference with Eden park and the MCG got into their heads

Australia thrashed all the sides they played at home,they are a very good side with a plan a,b,c,d,e and so on.Even wahabs great spell didn't even come close to stopping Australia but very few could spot this,some could but so many knockers.Well played Australia,well played New Zealand.

Congrats to Starcy on a phenomenal tournament, well deserved winner. Frank I think NZ played there Final on Tuesday, must have been a huge high to come down from and then get yourself back up for the Final. They had two days extra rest and then won the toss but just couldn't perform to there usual level. Australia bowled magnificently and just didn't allow them into the game.

I'll be honest, I was hoping for a South Africa/Australia Final. I can honestly see de Villiers doing a better job in that situation than everybody in the NZ side. And even though Boult has had a better tournament, a fast bowling attack of Morkel and Steyn is better suited for the big stage. I don't think McCullum handled the stage well. He tried hitting out before he made contact with the ball, even once! I saw him swing and miss and thoughts, "If Stark just keeps it on the stumps, he'll bowl him here." I don't think NZ handled the big stage well. That was a huge defeat!

They made the final ahead of some other fairly well credentialed teams and they deserved to. Tonight was the first game they lost during this whole thing, but tonight they came up against a red hot bowling attack and a team that wanted to send their captain out on a win. No shame in that.