KEY POINTS:
MUMBAI, India - Australia crashed through a paper-thin West Indies batting lineup and overcame a rain delay to claim its first Champions Trophy title by eight wickets in Mumbai overnight.
Veterans Glenn McGrath (2-24) and Damien Martyn (47 not out) along with Ashes hopefuls Nathan Bracken (3-22) and
Shane Watson (57 not out) were all prominent as Australia coasted to victory with 6.5 overs to spare.
After skittling the defending champions for 138, Australia made 116-2 in 28.1 overs.
Australia's target was revised to 116 from 35 overs following heavy showers which caused a delay of more than two hours.
Aspiring Test No 6 Watson won the man-of-the-match award, scoring his second half-century in his past three innings.
The Queenslander shared an unbeaten 103-run stand with Australia's leading batsman of the tournament Martyn.
Australia went to the interval at 45-2 after losing Adam Gilchrist (two) and captain Ricky Ponting (0) in the first four overs.
Once the rain cleared, with dozens of schoolboys in whites called upon to help with the covers, Australia settled into a relaxed run chase.
Watson hit four fours and faced 88 balls while Martyn also looked assured, stroking six boundaries from 71 balls.
Earlier, Ashes-bound McGrath and Ashes hopeful Bracken bowled the West Indies out for the mediocre total of 138 in 30.4 overs.
McGrath's haul included the key scalp of Brian Lara for two while left-armer Bracken was handed the new ball to get Chris Gayle and succeeded, taking 3-22 from six overs.
The Windies raced to 49-0 in five overs but quickly lost five for 45 with Bracken and McGrath knocking over the top half of the defending champions' batting line-up.
Lara's side lost 10 wickets for 89 runs.
Bracken removed opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul (27), No 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan (seven) and a fired-up Gayle (37 off 27 balls) in the sixth, eighth and 10th overs.
Gayle, the player of the tournament with 474 runs at 79, crashed six fours and two sixes to put Australia on the back foot early.
But the Jamaican left-hander stood dumbfounded for several seconds at the sight of Bracken rattling his off-stump, before finally departing.
Bracken claimed 10-194 in five matches to be one of Australia's big successes of the tournament.
McGrath made a key breakthrough when he had one-day cricket's fifth-leading runscorer Lara caught behind by a diving Adam Gilchrist at 4-88.
The 36-year-old McGrath, who took 10 wickets at 15.8 for the tournament, chipped in again to get Runako Morton caught behind, completing a brilliant rescue mission after coming on first-change behind Brett Lee and Bracken.
Lee fought back from a disastrous opening spell of 0-36 from three overs to take 1-49 from 7.4 overs.
Watson (2-11) and recalled spinner Brad Hogg (1-11) kept the pressure on the Windies as Hogg ended the stubborn resistance of Dwayne Bravo lbw for 21.
Bravo was the only player apart from the openers to reach double figures.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies
Chris Gayle b Bracken 37
Shivnarine Chanderpaul b Bracken 27
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Hogg b Bracken 7
Dwayne Bravo lbw b Hogg 21
Brian Lara c Gilchrist b McGrath 2
Runako Morton c Gilchrist b McGrath 2
Marlon Samuels c Ponting b Watson 7
Carlton Baugh lbw b Watson 9
Ian Bradshaw b Lee 7
Jerome Taylor not out 5
Corey Collymore run out 0
Extras: (5lb, 2nb, 7w) 14
TOTAL: (all out) 138
Overs: 30.4. Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-65, 3-80, 4-88, 5-94, 6-113, 7-125, 8-125, 9-136, 10-138.
Bowling: Brett Lee 7.4-0-49-1 (2nb), Nathan Bracken 6-0-22-3 (3w), Glenn McGrath 7-3-24-2 (2w), Andrew Symonds 3-0-16-0, Shane Watson 3-0-11-2 (1w), Brad Hogg 4-1-11-1 (1w).
Australia
(Revised target 116 from 35 overs after rain interruption)
Adam Gilchrist c Gayle b Bradshaw 2
Shane Watson not out 57
Ricky Ponting lbw b Taylor 0
Damien Martyn not out 47
Extras: (4lb, 1nb, 5w) 10
TOTAL: (for 2 wickets) 116
Overs: 28.1. Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-13.
Bowling: Chris Gayle 1-0-5-0, Jerome Taylor 7-0-42-1 (1w), Ian Bradshaw 6-0-21-1 (1nb, 1w) Corey Collymore 6-1-19-0 (1w), Marlon Samuels 5-0-9-0, Ramnaresh Sarwan 3.1-0-16-0 (2w).
Result: Australia wins by 8 wickets.
Toss: West Indies.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen, South Africa, and Aleem Dar, Pakistan.
TV Umpire: Billy Bowden, New Zealand.
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.
- AAP
