Champions Trophy

2009 Champions Trophy Final Preview: Australia v New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand will meet in the final of the 2009 Champions Trophy at Centurion on Monday.

Australia are the defending champions and will go into the finals full of confidence of retaining their crown. They came within two balls of being knocked out of the tournament but have been fighting it out through the last year or so and this result will give them immense confidence. Ricky Ponting is the mainstay of their batting and the rest of the batting will again be looking upto him to bolster their attack. With the higher standards in fielding and bowling than their opponents, the Aussies will be looking to taking the silver ware home again after they last won in India in 2006.

New Zealand have been the underdogs and come in this tournament on the back of some poor form in Sri Lanka in both tests and ODIs. But they have exceeded expectations here to reach the finals and one more concentrated team effort can see them win this tournament again. Their main point of attack will be their bowling as Shane Bond and company have been in fine form. But Daniel Vettori will be their main stay again, in bowling and batting. The Kiwis last won this tournament in Kenya in 2000 and till date remains their only win in ICC events, something they would want to change.

Teams:

Australia: Shane Watson, Tim Paine, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Callum Ferguson, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Grant Elliot, James Franklin, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Ian Butler.

Tags: 2009 Champions Trophy, Australia, new zealand