Watson leads Australia to victory

Getty Images ©

A century from Shane Watson led Australia to their second Champions Trophy title as the world champions chased down a small New Zealand total with relative ease, winning the final by six wickets today.

Watson (105 not out) set up the win with a 128-run third wicket partnership with Cameron White (62) after New Zealand took two early wickets to leave Australia reeling at 6/2 in the third over.

Watson was named man of the match after scoring his second straight century and closed out the game with two towering sixes off Jeetan Patel as Australia finished with 206/4 off 45.2 overs.

New Zealand could only manage 200 for nine in their 50 overs after winning the toss and deciding the bat. The Black Caps were dealt a blow before the game even started with captain Daniel Vettori ruled out of the final due to a hamstring strain.

Brendon McCullum took over as captain but fell for a 14-ball duck in the third over before Aaron Redmond (26) and Martin Guptill (40) put on 61 for the second wicket.

Both fell within 11 runs of each other and the New Zealand middle order struggled with Ross Taylor (6) and semifinal hero Grant Elliott (9) failing to make double figures.

Neil Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) helped make the Black Caps score more respectable putting on 65 for the sixth wicket, lifting New Zealand from 5-95 to 6-159.

The tail order pushed New Zealand to the 200 mark but it was never going to be enough. Nathan Hauritz led the Australian bowlers with 3-37.

New Zealand struck early in the innings with the dismissals of Tim Paine and Ricky Ponting within the first three overs.

Paine fell in the second over for just one after edging to Ross Taylor off the bowling of Shane Bond, while Kyle Mills picked up the vital wicket of Ponting just one over later for one.

Bond and Mills bowled brilliantly to keep the Australian run-rate down with constant pressure on Watson and White but couldn't pick up another crucial wicket.

Ian Butler had Watson skying a ball in the air in the 18th over but Brendon McCullum dropped the catch. The turning point of the innings as Watson found his grove shortly after to create his match-winning innings.

The Watson-White partnership was finally broken up by Mills who had White play onto his stumps. Mills then captured the wicket of Michael Hussey four overs later for 11 to finish with the impressive figures of 3-27.

But he wasn't backed up by his fellow bowlers as Ian Butler (0-50), Franklin (0-42) and Patel (0-44) all failed to put consistent pressure on the Australian batsmen.

New Zealand can take some pride out of reaching the Champions Trophy final, especially with injuries sending Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram home and having to battle in the final without their skipper.