Published: Mar 27, 2015, 03:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 27, 2015, 03:43 PM (IST)
It will be a battle of co-hosts in the grand finale as Australia booked their berth in the final on Thursday by beating defending champions India in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). In the first semi-final, New Zealand turned its fate by reaching to their maiden World Cup final by beating mighty South Africa.
Ahead of the mouth-watering final showdown between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), New Zealand pacer Tim Southee believes his team have the arsenal as well as the experience to outclass their counterparts on Sunday. Southee, along with his team is relishing the prospect of playing their rivals Australia at the vast MCG.
Earlier, Australian skipper Michael Clarke felt his side’s experience of playing at the MCG will be a major factor in the final. But, this doesn’t bemoan Southee, who has been in prime form in the tournament having picked up 15 wickets.
Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden’s jibe received a lot of criticism in the social media when he suggested the sheer side of the MCG for a New Zealand team who’d played all their previous matches at this World Cup on their own, much smaller grounds.
But Southee with his other teammates were not worried with the size of the ground. “We are not too worried about the size of the ground. It’s a dream come true for all the guys. This is as good as it gets, taking on Australia in Australia on one of the best cricket grounds in the world,” Southee said in a report from AFP.
Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori has more experience of the MCG than his New Zealand team-mates, having played there seven times since 1997 while skipper Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Grant Elliott, Southee and Kyle Mills were part of the famous win against Australia in 2009.
“We haven’t played here for a long time. We have good memories from that (2009) game as well. A lot of the guys have played in front of pretty big crowds in India. There will be close to 100,000 people screaming (on Sunday). It will be interesting to see what it’s like here,” Southee added.
“The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand does pretty much cover every sport and it is massive. We’re probably seen as the ‘little brothers from across the ditch’ and we do quite well in other sports (such as both rugby codes) to compete. Australia have had the wood on us over the last couple of years in cricket. As a kid growing up it was always Australia that you wanted to play against…You’re always wanting to have one-up over the ‘big brothers’,” he further added.
The lanky pacer heaped praise on his teammate Trent Boult as the latter was the chief demolisher with five for 27 when New Zealand beat Australia in Auckland during the pool stages on February 28.
“To do what he’s done over the last couple of months has been amazing,” Southee admired Boult.
“We do have a great partnership. A bit of swing would be nice. It hasn’t swung for us in every game but we’ve found ways to take wickets. If it does swing we do become a big more dangerous,” Southee concluded, who grabbed his career best against England in Wellington with seven for 33.
