The Steve Waugh Article…..Read the mind of the legend!

The Steve Waugh Article - Australia v New Zealand - Final

Once again, it's Australia who enter a tournament final as firm favourites, against New Zealand. We've heard of other teams going past them in rankings and statistics, but when it comes to the big tournaments, Australia are still the team to beat.

The Australia we saw on Friday even was a far cry from the tired, fatigued outfit we saw against West Indies in the opening game. In the semifinal against England, the batting of Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson was really exceptional, and proved two things. First, Ponting has not lost his hunger and ambition to save his best knocks for the biggest arena. Second, that Shane Watson is remarkably well-suited for the opening slot, and is a quality player, when fit. This knock would have greatly boosted his confidence and hopefully this will ensure stability at the top of the order.

Perhaps the West Indies game was a wake-up call, but even against Pakistan, the game went too close to the wire for Australia's liking. However, they did enough to make the seminfals and now have some serious momentum going into the final.

Their other finalist has also been pretty impressive through the tournament. I have always been impressed by how well the New Zealand team performs as a unit. They are a tight, well-knit team that plans well and strategises meticulously for every game. This was in evidence yesterday in the way they first unsettled the Pakistan side with their sharp running between the wickets, and later by the way they used their batting powerplay. Daniel Vettori has been a good leader and it helps that he has some very good batsmen in the top order, namely Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor. I was also impressed with Elliot, who along with Vettori, got their side into the finals with a very balanced and no-fuss attitude.

The big shot in the arm for New Zealand has been the return of Shane Bond from ICL exile. He has given their pace bowling some teeth, and along with Ian Butler forms a very effective pace attack. I had seen Butler as a youngster, and it's good to see him finally realize the potential he had shown.

On Monday, New Zealand will have to once again try and unsettle the Australians by hustling them with good aggressive fielding and sharp running between the wickets. They are a side that make a large number of semifinals, but rarely go beyond. This makes them the underdogs tomorrow, since there is no denying that Australia save their best for the big games.

The Australians will try and see off the in-form Vettori and take on some of the other bowlers. I would imagine that the Australians will target taking around 40 off his 10 overs of left-arm spin. The defending champions have more experience and form in their bowling, and the fate of the game could be decided by how the New Zealand openers fare against Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle. (Gameplan)