It's a repeat of 1996 - so far,that is.Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 81 runs in the first semi-final while Austrlia beat South Africa by 7 wickets to reach the finals.

Australia have won all their games in this World Cup so far while Sri Lanka lost to Australia and South Africa.Australia,though they have beaten Sri Lanka in the Super 8s should be aware that this time Vaas,Murali and Malinga would be playing.

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Karthik Venkatesan

On paper at least, the team look closely matched, particularly the bowling.

McGrath and Vaas: Two wily and experienced campaigners who can still take the opposing batsmen by surprise.

Tait & Malinga: Two young fast bowlers who might go for runs but always threaten to break through.

Hogg & Muralitharan: Despite the big overall gulf between them, these two are the most successful spinners in the tournament thus far.

Bracken & Maharoof (who will probably get the nod over Fernando): Two fast medium bowlers who can be economical when required.

Australia probaly have a slight advantage with the 5th bowling option with Watson, Symonds and Clarke as opposed to Jayasuriya, Arnold and Dilshan. We'll see.

The batting seems to be stronger on the holders' side, even though there are similarities there as well. For example, in Gilchrist & Sangakkara there are two keeper-batsmen that are highly rated but failed so far in the tournament. But if there is need to accelerate down the order, the likes of Symonds, Watson and Hogg have the advantage over their Sri Lankan counterparts. For that reason and the fact that Fernando had his problems in the semi-final might prompt SL to pick Maharoof in the former's place.

Hows the dream end Karthik ?
hope not like the South Africans then I woke up and we were 5-27 in the 10th over

Bracken vs Maharoof is a massive miss match, thats the reason why Australia will bowl Sri Lanka out from 200 and Australia will win the World Cup. Also the form that Ponting, Hayden and Clarke are in is amazing.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

With the kind of bowling attack Sri Lanka's got,they would have hopes of defending almost anything.In my opinion,Sri Lanka must bat first if they win the toss.Sri Lanka must not crumble under pressure.Australia won't - they've been in this position loads of times!It will not be a stroll in the park for the Aussies.

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Karthik Venkatesan

Sri Lanka's only hope is if they bat first and put up more than 300 on board, which I do not see happening against this Australian bowling attack.

Sri Lanka need to sort out a couple of Achilles heels in their make-up before going into the final. One is that they have only 3 pace bowlers in Vaas, Malinga and Fernando/Maharoof. Good as these players are, the complete lack of a 4th quick alternative might be felt on the Kensington Oval wicket, especially if SL are bowling first. Murali is fine on any surface, but the 5th bowling option of Jayasuriya-Dilshan-Arnold might not work against the rampaging Aussie batsmen. So I wonder if they will consider bringing Maharoof in place of Arnold and keep Fernando as well; of course, the flipside of that decision will be that the batting will be weaked somewhat, since Maharoof is not as effective at No:7 as is Arnold - a good finisher with the tailenders.

The second problem that Sri Lanka have - and one more difficult to sort out - is the lack of big hitters down the order. If Oz bat first and post a total of around 300, there will be pressure on the top 3 or 4 batsmen because those coming after them might struggle to maintain a run rate of 6+ against the strong Oz bowling attack.

alot of opposition supporters love to bag the aussies . facts are the aussies are a very good cricket side and are the best at the mental games which every side comes to australia saying they are going to do this do that until they play a state side and get smashed, its about time people start to reconise that yes the Aussies are cocky and why wouldnt they be , apart from a few hiccups they have been the best cricket side in the world for about the last 10 years

The two best sides have made it the world cup finals ,let the best side on the day win it

While Bracken does have a somewhat better ODI record, the difference can hardly be described as 'massive'. Both have played 66 ODIs to date and while Bracken has 111 wickest at a strike rate of 29.43 and 4.33 runs per over, Maharoof has taken 80 wickets at 32.30 and 4.77 runs per over. The Sri Lankan is the better batsman and so the difference is not that much. Furthermore, Maharoof has managed to impress in the few chances that he has had so far in this tournament and I believe can be an effective addition to the squad.

Bracken i one of the best ODI bowlers in the world. Can you say that about Maharoof?