CWC Final - halfway update

Right, so we're halfway through the CWC final, with Australia making 281-4, thanks to Adam Gilchrist's brilliant 149 off only 104 balls - the highest score ever in a World Cup Final, and fastest 100 to boot.

The first 10 overs were steady, only 46 (Australia's lowest score off 10 this whole tournament), but between 10 and 20, they were unstoppable - 91 runs scored, and it wasn't even a Power Play.

I must admit (somewhat sheepishly) that I had been thinking that perhaps the time was right for Gilchrist to retire, he hasn't been the dominant force he used to be. It's often appeared to me that he's not been hungry to keep going, and as a result, was making a lot of 20's and 30's, never going on to make huge 100's. But I guess what better occasion to be hungry than a world cup final? And he rode his luck, but what a great innings.

Match-winning? I think so, it will take a phenomenal innings from someone to beat that. And Sri Lanka's problem is that they have a lot of run-a-ball scramblers in the middle of the order, and that won't be good enough. So it's up the 163-year old Sanath Jayasuria to take them there.

Let's hope it's exciting, but I have a feeling the game's gone already. I call Sri Lanka to reach about 220 for 7 by the time that fat lady sings.

R