Aus vs NZ

Aus vs NZ

Centurion: Australian pacer Peter Siddle provided early breakthrough to skipper Ricky Ponting when he claimed stand-in skipper Brandom McCullum on Duck. New Zealand were 32 for one in the 13th overs of Champions Trophy final at SuperSport in Centurion. McCullum edged an excellent delivery off Siddle to Tim Paine behind the stumps. McCullum faced 14 deliveries and made no score. At this Moment Aaron Redmond and Martin Guptil were trying to consolidate the innings. Redmond and Guptil are unbeaten on 16 and 15 runs respectively. Earlier, Mccullum won the toss and decided to bat first against Australia. Daniel Vettori was ruled out due to injury. The winner of the Champions Trophy 2009 will bag USD 2 million record prize.

The injury-hit brigade of Daniel Vettori has shown brave face in the Group B. However, a little luck was also in favour of Kiwis but at the end it was New Zealand who will take on mighty Aussies in the final. On the other hand, Australians were already favourite for the CT finals. Legendary Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram had said in an interview that Australia will be in the final. And Akram's predictions came true. As far as title is concerned, Kangaroos are favourite but New Zealand have been doing major upsets since beginning of the tournament.

Overall, the final encounter is going to be a close battle with bat and ball. Australians are looking solid in all departments while Kiwis will have to concentrate on batting department. Toss: Team should bat first after winning the toss as Centurion wicket is known for batting paradise.

Australia: Ricky Ponting, Tim Paine, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hautriz, Peter Siddle, Brett Lee, Cameron White, C Furguson.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor, Aaron Redmond, James Franklin, Neil Broon, Martin Guptil, Kylie Mills, Grant Elliot, Ian Buttler, Shane Bond.