Kriky's Blogopedia

MELBOURNE , Australia, CMC – Australia crushed New Zealand by seven wickets to claim their fifth ICC Cricket World Cup, in a hugely lopsided affair at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that had been hyped as blockbuster. opting to bat first, the Black Caps slumped to 39 for three in the 13th over and despite a brief recovery, could only muster a disappointing 183 all out off 45 overs. Middle order batsman Grant Elliott top scored with 82 off 83 deliveries and Ross Taylor got 40 from 72 balls but they were the only batsmen to pass 15 as the much vaunted Kiwi batting juggernaut faltered badly. Left-armer Mitchell Johnson (3-30) and fellow seamer James Faulkner (3-36) both finished with three wickets apiece while another left-armer, Mitchell Starc, claimed two for 20, to pick up the Man-of-the-Series honours. Left with a paltry target to chase in front their home crowd, the Aussies made light work of the task, cruising to victory in the 34th over behind half-centuries from captain Michae

Melbourne:  Shikhar Dhawan smashed 137 off 146 balls as defending champions India whipped mighty South Africa by 130 runs to step closer to a quarter-final berth in the World Cup on Sunday.( Score card ) source: ZeeNews A boisterous crowd of 86,876 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground saw India pile up 307 for seven after electing to bat and then bowl out the Proteas for 177 with almost 10 overs to spare in the day-night Pool B match. Faf du Plessis top-scored with 55 but India made regular dents in the South African batting, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin taking three wickets and seamers Mohammad Shami and Mohit Sharma sharing four wickets. With two wins from as many games -- India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 76 runs last Sunday -- Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men will move into the quarter-finals if they beat the unfaniced United Arab Emirates in Perth on February 28. South Africa, one of the pre-tournament favourites who beat Zimbabwe in their first match, have two points