Australia has won its maiden World Test Championship title after beating India by 209 runs in the final at The Oval.
Chasing 444 for victory, India was all out for 234 shortly before lunch on day five on Sunday after losing seven wickets on the final morning.
The triumph makes Australia the first team to have won world titles in all three formats of the game, with Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and David Warner completing their own triple crowns.
“A lot of hard work has gone into the past few years to get into this situation to play in the final,” Smith said.
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“We have dominated the game from day one. Maybe let them back in in glimpses.
“But outside of that it was a pretty well polished performance.”
Scott Boland was the hero for Australia, landing two killer blows in one over to finish with 3-46 in the second innings.
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With India beginning to believe in front of a big crowd at The Oval, Boland removed both Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the space of three balls early on.
Mitchell Starc (2-77) also claimed the scalps of Ajinkya Rahane and tailender Umesh Yadav caught behind, silencing his critics ahead of the Ashes.
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Nathan Lyon (4-41) then removed Shardul Thakur and KS Bharat, before having Mohammed Siraj caught reverse sweeping to seal the victory.
Beyond the win, Boland’s breakthroughs ram home the argument Australia cannot leave him out of their side for the first Test at Edgbaston starting Friday.
The Victorian is yet to be picked for Australia when all of Starc, Cummins and the fit-again Josh Hazlewood are available, but Sunday’s spell will strengthen his cause.
In turn, it also damned India’s hopes.
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When Australia threw away a review in desperation to remove Kohli with the score at 3-179, there were immediate flashbacks to the 2019 capitulation at Headingley.
But the match swung violently back in Australia’s favour two balls later, when the Indian star edged Boland to the vacant third-slip region.
Flying to his right at second slip, Steve Smith took the catch with both feet in the air to remove Kohli for 49 and silence thousands of Indian fans in the big last-day crowd.
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“It was a big partnership to break, (Boland)’s spell was outstanding,” Smith said.
“He bowled beautifully, got a couple of key breakthroughs and got us on our way.
“It was a great lead in from Baz, it was a really good spell, beat the bat a few times and looked threatening.”
Boland then had Jadeja two balls later, drawing the edge when he came around the wicket to left-hander and had him pushing outside off stump.
The quick was unlucky not to have a third for the over when he attracted KS Bharat’s edge, only for the ball to fly over a jumping David Warner at first slip.
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Australia will view the win as the perfect preparation for the Ashes.
Although questions linger over Warner and Usman Khawaja’s form at the top of the order, Smith and Travis Head set up the win with first-innings centuries.
Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green and Alex Carey all spent good time in the middle, with Carey’s unbeaten 66 allowing Australia to declare at 8-280 in the second innings and set up the chase.
The bowlers were also able to take 20 wickets with the Dukes ball, leaving selectors with far more positive headaches than negatives.
-AAP
