Left: Australian players hold the ICC Champions Trophy during the award ceremony after Australia beat West Indies in the final match in Mumbai yesterday.  Right: West Indies' Christopher Gayle poses after winning the Man-of-the-Series trophy in the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament in Mumbai yesterday. - Reuters photos

MUMBAI, India (CMC):

Another inexplicable West Indies batting collapse handed Australia the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time yesterday, when they won the final by eight wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

West Indies failed to build on the rapid start they were given by openers Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and were dismissed for the lowest total in a Champions Trophy final of 138 in 30.4 overs.

Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor lifted West Indian hopes of a fightback however, when they removed Adam Gilchrist and Aussie captain Ricky Ponting cheaply, as the World champions reached 45 for two from 10 overs at the dinner break.

Bradshaw made the breakthrough for West Indies, when he had Gilchrist caught at first slip for two in the third over, and Taylor gained a palpable lbw verdict to remove Ponting for a duck to leave Australia 13 for two in the fourth over.

Out of stride

But West Indies were put out of their stride by a stand of 103, unbroken, for the third wicket between Shane Watson and Damien Martyn, after the target score was revised to 116 from 35 overs, following a two-and-a-quarter-hour-long delay due to rain that elongated the dinner break.

When West Indies batted, Watson collected two wickets for 11 runs from three overs to prevent a late revival and he returned with the bat to top score for the Aussies.

His undefeated 57 from 88 balls, that included four boundaries, made him a shoo-in for the Man-of-the-Match award and he gained solid support from Martyn, whose 47 from 71 balls included half-dozen fours.

Gayle hit the top score of 37 that gave him an aggregate of 437 runs for the tournament and earned him the Man-of-the-Series award; Chanderpaul made 27 and Dwayne Bravo got 21.

No other West Indies batsman made it into double figures, after the Caribbean side won the toss and chose to bat on a hard, easy-paced Brabourne Stadium pitch.

The West Indies' decline was triggered by the left-arm swing of Nathan Bracken. He removed Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Gayle in a decisive opening spell to end with three for 22 from six overs.

Every time West Indies tried to pick themselves up, they were set back by purposeful Australian bowling, with Glenn McGrath snaring two for 24 from seven overs, after Gayle roughed him up in his first two overs that cost 22.

Gayle and Chanderpaul had the Australians on the back foot, when they started aggressively with strokes all around the wicket.

They had put on 49 from five overs, when Chanderpaul was bowled dragging a delivery from Bracken into his stumps.

Assault

The assault continued with Sarwan essaying a searing cover drive off Brett Lee for four and Gayle depositing McGrath deep into the crowd on two occasions for sixes.

West Indies, however, were undone when Sarwan was caught at mid-on for seven in the eighth over off the leading edge driving a slower ball from Bracken, who produced a perfectly-pitched outswinger to have Gayle bowled in the 10th over to leave West Indies 80 for three.

West Indies had the life squeezed out of their batting when Brian Lara fell in the 15th over and Runako Morton went in the 19th - both to catches to keeper Adam Gilchrist off McGrath to set West Indies back on 113 for six in the 23rd over.

Any hopes of West Indies rallying to a competitive total were snuffed out, when Watson removed Marlon Samuels caught at mid-wicket for seven in the 23rd over, and Carlton Baugh, Jr., lbw for nine in the 25th over to send the 2004 champions crashing to 125 for seven.

When Bravo was eighth out - lbw offering no stroke to left-arm chinaman bowler Brad Hogg - in the 26th over, Australia knew they were well placed.