I wouldn't expect it to be that easy for the Aussies.Sri Lanka have the potential to challenge them.Also,Australia didn't have a look at Lasith Malinga,Chaminda Vaas & Muttiah Muralitharan who could really challenge the Aussie bowlers.

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Karthik Venkatesan

Ahhhhhh once again the great pretenders of International cricket have shown themselves come semifinal time.

The black caps promised much and delivered little when it came time to be counted. I'm sad to say i'm not surprised. Perhaps now the coach (who hopefully will soon be john wright) can try unorthodox tactics such as playing two openers in spots one and two instead of none and actually requiring players to attend practice sessions. Surely its not too much to ask.

Well done Sri Lanka you deserve the right to be the team the aussies thrash in the final.

We'll see. The Aussies have not got there yet; South Africa might be hoping to say a thing or two about it. The interesting thing though, is that today's semi-final teams are the only two that actually beat Sri Lanka thus far in this World Cup. South Africa won narrowly (though it should have been a lot easier) against a full-strength SL team while Australia thrashed an under-strength one.

A bit savage on a very small nation who I think has done quite well.
I also think Martin Crowes attack on coach John Bracewell is misguided as the Kiwis have played some decent limited overs for a long period of time.
In the end lack of depth is probably what defeated them, they just dont have an endless list of players like England and Australia.
In retrospect the other factors were Oram injuring his hand on the way into the series he just never raeched his earlier form after that. And they probably started thier preparation a bit early and peaked a couple of weeks ago. But that is something its allmost imposible to judge.
But maybe mentally they have been telling themselves prior to the tournament that they are going to get to the semi finals and thats as far as they get. Not just this final but the rest of them as well.

If Styris hadn't thrown his wicket away like that, i feel it would have been a great conclusion.