Warne is encircled by his team-mates after taking the wicket of Wasim Akram
Photograph: ALASTAIR GRANT

Warne puts the world in Australia's hands

Far from being drained by the nerve-racking experience of their semi-final, Australia rose far more convincingly to the biggest challenge of all and, in beating Pakistan by eight wickets - with a little matter of 179 balls to spare - they proved themselves world champions of the one-day game, as they are of the five-day.

If two men stood above the rest in their extraordinary sweep to success after a sticky start to the tournament, it was their captain and their vice-captain. Steve Waugh's inspired century against South Africa eight days ago and Shane Warne's eight wickets in the past two games, including the four for 33 that gained him a second successive man-of-the-match award yesterday, were the performances of great cricketers who always seem able to produce something special when it is really needed.

Warne's renaissance as a Test cricketer will surely follow now that he has proved to himself that the leg break will turn as far and as fast as ever it did before his shoulder operation. For him, the spin in the sun yesterday was a cakewalk compared to the match-turning spell in the semi-final. Then the need was desperate; yesterday he was merely pushing irresistibly through the gap in the Pakistan batting that Glenn McGrath had opened up.

If Warne sometimes blows hot and cold, everyone takes McGrath's wonderfully simple fast bowling for granted these days. He bowled England out on a damp pitch at Lord's two seasons ago and he got pace and bounce from a very different sort of surface yesterday.

Waugh needed his success no less after Australia had managed only to draw both the Tests and the one-day series in the West Indies. He proved once more that he is the hardest cricketer of them all. Following Mark Taylor was never going to be easy and questions were being asked after Australia's defeat in the Barbados Test and a lacklustre start to the World Cup, but he said that Australia could win all their games after the defeat by Pakistan and win them all they very nearly did.

His joy when he hit the winning runs to reach 120 not out at Headingley in the last of Australia's Super Six matches will be one of the enduring images of this World Cup. Another, for those who saw it, will be the moment when his brother, Mark, hit an on drive against Zimbabwe at Lord's so powerfully that Steve could not get out of the way. The ball struck him on the side of his helmet and bent it. He simply removed it without a word or a gesture. No sign of pain, not a hint of drama; just a chew of the gum and on with the game.

So, the right side won the World Cup: the best and the toughest. Pakistan offered so much, too, and it was a nice touch at the end that Lance Klusener should receive the award as man of the tournament. He averaged 140 and his hitting late in the order in match after match was unforgettable - like a latter-day, left-handed Gilbert Jessop.

The tournament was not perfect. No competition of this length could be, especially involving one-day cricket with its dramatic highs and occasionally dull matches. There were too many early games played on chilly, cloudy days when one side made such rapid inroads into the other team's batting that recovery was unlikely. Sadly, the final match reverted to type, but the organisers can point with satisfaction to the fact that only one match could not be finished and that the Duckworth/Lewis rules remained an unused curiosity.

In the end, World Cup 99 was more than worth all the hard work and investment by the organisers at Lord's and, thanks to the quality of the players and the unmatchable prestige of the World Cup itself - held every four years and genuinely different from all the rest - it was a resounding success.

June 21, 1999