Oh, the disappointment sinks in

For a few days, it seemed like Sri Lanka had a decent chance of winning the world cup. They seemed the in form side, a great line up of bowlers, a gallery of sharp fielders and useful batsmen who might outwit the Aussies when they least suspected it.

How heavily are such light hopes crushed.

It seemed inevitable that Australia would reach the final, perhaps even more so that they would win it. Four years ago it was with a determined hammering from Ricky Ponting, and yesterday Adam Gilchrist decided to attack the crowd from his position in the middle. 149 off around a 130 balls. If he had just made 30, Sri Lanka might've been in it.

What a tragic ending to an often dismal tournament. Cut short by rain, I would have thought that the World Cup Final of all cricket games would have been rescheduled for the next day. Unfortunately, the completely idiotic powers-that-be decided otherwise, and 38 overs a side it was. More rain meant that the Australian side celebrated too early due to a mistake by the match referee. Whatever the case, Sri Lanka lost by 54 runs a la Duckworth-Lewis. Or for the more sensible, Aus 281-4 (38 overs) beat SL 215-8 (36).

Australia have won the ICC Cricket World Cup for a fourth time, and for a third successive time. Cricket receives another nail in its coffin.