aussies 2nd CT trophy.........

Australia 206 for 4 (Watson 105*, White 62, Mills 3-27) beat New Zealand 200 for 9 (Guptill 40, Hauritz 3-37, Lee 2-45) by six wickets. MoM: S Watson. MoS: R Ponting

Ricky Ponting has attributed Australia's Champions Trophy success to the efforts of youngsters in his team, especially their performance in an occasionally tense final.

"We have gone through some ups and downs in the last 18 months. A number of great players have left and we brought in a lot of young, fresh players. It was great to see some of them stand up and deliver," Ponting said after Australia's six-wicket win over New Zealand that gave them their second Champions Trophy title.

Australia's bowling performance in the final was led by Nathan Hauritz, who grabbed 3 for 37, including the well-set Martin Guptill for 40. Later, in their chase of 201, Australia were in trouble at 6 for 2 but Shane Watson and Cameron White added 128 to put them in control. "Two young guys at the crease at 6 for 2, it doesn't get any tougher and they did a great job," Ponting said.

Australia came in to the tournament as favourites along with South Africa, fresh from the success of a 6-1 ODI humiliation of England. They beat West Indies in a tough contest in Johannesburg, were dominant against India in a washed-out game and edged Pakistan in a two-wicket win in Centurion. They were comprehensive winners in the semi-final against England, Ponting and Shane Watson hammering centuries in a nine-wicket win.

PAK wins a low scoring game against WI...

Pakistan 134 for 5 (Umar Akmal 41*, Tonge 4-25) beat West Indies 133 (Miller 51, Aamer 3-24, Gul 3-28) by five wickets.MoM: Umar Akmal

Pakistan tripped and stumbled and chased with the assurance of sleepwalkers, but ultimately a superior fast-bowling attack and depth in batting sealed them a low-scoring showdown. A fine bowling performance where wickets were shared all around ensured a woefully inexperienced West Indies were bowled out for an unthreatening 133 after they opted to bat. Pakistan's batting has floundered repeatedly this year and today they nearly lost it, bewildered by Gavin Tonge's four-wicket haul, before Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi added 58 to finish the deal.

This match as a contest ended well before Pakistan could come out to bat. Floyd Reifer had spoken of the importance of this tournament for fans in the Caribbean, and vowed at the toss that his team would play "the best cricket possible". What followed was anything but, as a combination of accurate fast bowling and not-so-clever batting decided the direction of this match.

SL trashes SA in CT opener......

Sri Lanka 319 for 8 (Dilshan 106, Jayawardene 77, Sangakkara 54) beat South Africa 206 for 7 (Smith 58, Mendis 3-30) by 55 runs (D/L). MoM: T M Dilshan

Led by a blazing century from Tillakaratne Dilshan and a brace of cameos, the world's No. 5 team started their Champions Trophy campaign in fine style by beating the top-ranked side. Graeme Smith's decision to field was based on the lack of dew in the afternoon but none of the bowlers, barring Dale Steyn, made an impression. Dilshan's 92-ball 106, coupled with significant inputs from captains past and present, lifted them to a daunting total that was well beyond South Africa.

Sri Lanka carried the energy from their powerful batting display into the field and Ajantha Mendis, unlike the home side's spinners, extracted bounce and turn under lights. Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis showed signs of dominance with an 81-run stand in quick time but once Smith was bowled off Mendis' first delivery, and Kallis and JP Duminy fell in successive balls, Sri Lanka could apply the chokehold.

INDIA LEAVES FOR SA .........

The Indian cricket team on Friday left to participate in the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in South Africa from September 22.

The team left by the Dubai-bound flight from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport here and will take a connecting flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. The tournament is scheduled to take place from September 22 to October 5. India was the joint winner along with host Sri Lanka in 2002. The team will play a warm-up match against New Zealand on Septeber 20.

Placed in Group A along with Australia, Pakistan and the West Indies, India will open its league engagements on September 26 against Pakistan.

The squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, R.P.Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amith Mishra, Dinesh Karthik. Coach: Gary Kirsten. — PTI