IT’S consumed six weeks, 48 matches and 12 teams but the ICC 2015 World Cup has found its finalists – and they are the nations that many keen-eyed experts predicted would play off in the decider well before the first shiny new white ball was bowled.There was a groundswell of those who predicted South Africa would make it through to tomorrow’s showdown at the MCG, but the curse of history, compounded by the absence of a quality bowling all-rounder, meant wiser heads saw trouble brewing for the Proteas.

And the frailties that defending champions India showed repeatedly through their four-month Test and ODI campaigns on Australian soil, which ended Thursday night without a solitary victory over their hosts, had all but their few hundred million staunchest supporters realising back-to-back was beyond them.
So while Pakistan could lay claim to a similarly potent pace-bowling outfit, Sri Lanka might argue their batting line-up was the equal of any and South Africa’s fielding skills were largely flawless up until their semi-final loss, the nations that best combine all those facets will contest the trophy.
Which all but the most biased or habitually contrary would argue is how showpiece tournaments should play out.
But if both finalists boast bowlers who can swing the ball at considerable pace, explosive top-order batsmen as well as accomplished Test players who can shore up early calamities before letting loose an array of lower-order hitters, and fielders as desperate as they are dynamic, then who wins?
According to the captain who last lifted the World Cup in front of a deliriously euphoric nation, it might just be the team with the specialist spinner, albeit one aged 36 with a crook back, a sore finger and who will be writing the last chapter of a long and lustrous career story.
“I think (New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel) Vettori’s performance will be crucial,” said India captain M. S. Dhoni after the defending champions had their tournament terminated by Australia.
“He is somebody who, in the middle overs, can really get wickets and he’s not someone you can easily score off.
“So he will be the key factor.
The fact that Michael Clarke’s team posted the highest total scored against the Cup holders in this tournament, became the only team not to be bowled out by the Indian attack and knocked over the champions 95 runs short of their target suggests they are travelling okay.
Throw in the additional detail that the win was achieved at the Sydney Cricket Ground on a dry pitch that was supposed to favour spin above speed, and against an opponent that boasted two high-quality tweakers and it would indicate that the lack of a front-line slow bowling option won’t faze Australia one jot.
Their bigger concern, as was exposed when New Zealand inflicted Australia’s sole defeat of the campaign in Auckland almost a month ago and was reaffirmed by Clarke in the wake of their semi-final win, will be the Black Caps’ quicks.
“I think their new-ball bowling has been exceptional,” Clarke said Thursday night as the Australians plotted their post-match recovery programme, the next morning’s travel plans to Melbourne and their light training schedule today ahead of tomorrow’s day-night final.
“We experienced that in the game that we played against them and we’ve seen that throughout the tournament.
“They’ve been able to swing the ball in New Zealand and even if it hasn’t swung they’ve executed (their plans) so we’ll have to be sure that we bat well.”
Batting form would not appear to be a major concern for the Australians, except perhaps for Clarke who – having experienced a delayed start to the tournament because of his recent hamstring surgery – is the only one of his team’s top five not to have posted a century in the tournament.
But as a collective, Australia’s batters have been getting the job done.
Four times in their seven completed matches to date, Australia have scored in excess of 300 from their 50 overs (New Zealand have achieved it twice) and only once in that time have they been bowled out.
The caveat there is that the occasion they surrendered all 10 wickets was to New Zealand in a frenetic match at Eden Park, with the 151 for which they were skittled being their lowest ODI score for more than two years.
It’s the reason why Clarke nominated the Black Caps’ pace bowling, among whom eight of those Australian wickets were shared, as their most potent strength even though he claims much has changed since that afternoon in Auckland.
“I think New Zealand will take confidence that they’ve beaten us in the tournament,” Clarke said after Thursday night’s win, Australia’s sixth from as many World Cup semi-final appearances, a record that has delivered them four World Cups with the opportunity for a fifth.
“But I believe that was the turning point for this Australian team.
“We got a bit of kick up the backside, we got a look at a very good team playing at the top of their game, certainly with the ball, and I think our attitude since that game has been exceptional.
“We’ve prepared so well for every game, we’ve grabbed momentum and we’ve tried to run with it and I think that will hold us in really good stead for tomorrow.
“We’ll talk about the New Zealand team, there’s no doubt we’ll study them and we’ve been watching just about every game as well, or certainly myself and Boof (coach Darren Lehmann) have.
“So we know who we’re up against, we know their strengths and we know their weaknesses.”
They can also be fairly certain of the team that the Black Caps will put on the park come tomorrow, with the only change the co-hosts have made to their starting XI since the opening game being the replacement of injured fast bowler Adam Milne with fellow right-arm quick Matt Henry.
By contrast, the Australians have used all 15 members of their squad under a ‘horses for courses’ selection policy, though it’s fairly certain they won’t take the same posse into this weekend’s game at the MCG as they did for their first hit-out there against England on February 14.
A team that was captained by George Bailey, who hasn’t played since Clarke recovered from injury to take his place in the next match, and included Mitchell Marsh as first-choice all-rounder (and who took five wickets) before the now incumbent James Faulkner also returned from the sidelines.
While at pains to stress he is not part of Australia’s selection panel, Clarke indicated it would be tough for that committee to mount a case to alter an XI that has performed so strongly and so cohesively in their knockout final wins over Pakistan and India.
“I think if everyone is fully fit it’s going to be extremely hard to change the eleven,” Clarke said, before being quizzed as to whether that meant there were members of the squad under injury clouds.
“I don’t think so.
“(Josh) Hazlewood came off the field (last night) with a sore thumb but it sounds to me like he’s completely fine, he just wanted to rest up for the final so the youngster took a few overs off.
“I think at this stage everybody is pretty good. But I’m not a selector.”
At least that point, as a couple of days of relentless previewing, presumptions and prescience begin, has been made crystal clear.

By Andrew Ramsey in Melbourne