Australia put the seal on the most dominant campaign in World Cup history, securing their fourth title and their third in a row since 1999.

Gilchrist's innings of 149 was the highest ever made in a World Cup final, beating the mark of 140 set by his captain, Ricky Ponting, four years ago, and it was launched in a stand of 172 for the first wicket with Matthew Hayden, who made 38 from 55 balls before picking out Mahela Jayawardene in the covers.

Hayden's innings took his tournament tally to an incredible 659 runs at 73.22 - second only to Sachin Tendulkar's 671 in the 2003 World Cup - but today he was as anonymous as at any time in the past seven weeks. It did not matter a jot, for his performance as a quick-sprinting second fiddle was second-to-none. By the time of Hayden's dismissal, Gilchrist was already sitting pretty on 119, having faced almost five more overs than his partner.

Gilchrist set the tone by clubbing Chaminda Vaas for four and six in the second over, while Lasith Malinga - the deadliest weapon in the Sri Lankan armoury - opted for accuracy over explosiveness.

Malinga went for just six runs in his first spell of four overs, but he was clocking an average of 84 mph, a good 10mph slower than in his devastating semi-final performance. It meant that the early breakthrough Sri Lanka so needed never materialised, especially when Dilhara Fernando - who began tidily enough from round the wicket - dropped a sharp return chance down by his shins when Gilchrist had made a run-a-ball 31.

The moment was lost and with it went Sri Lanka's best hope of controlling the tempo of the match that had been reduced to 38 overs by early rain. Fernando was a broken man after that - his next three deliveries were clubbed for four, four and six, the last of which very nearly took out the fire engine next to the 3Ws stand at long-on. It can only have been there to douse the ardour of Australia's batsmen, because Gilchrist was absolutely smoking. He brought up his 15th ODI hundred from just 72 balls with a drilled four over long-off, and thereafter heaved through the line with impunity, trusting his eye, the surface and the fact that the fight had gone out of his opponents.

Sri Lanka's batsmen did their best in the face of a spiralling run-rate, swinging the blade with gusto even as the cameras in the crowd betrayed the fading of both the light and their hopes. While Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but Sangakkara miscued Brad Hogg to Ponting at midwicket, before Jayasuriya, in the final appearance of a competition he has graced since 1992, was bowled by a flatter, faster delivery from the part-time spin of Michael Clarke.

Glenn McGrath, another man making his final bow, then seized another segment of the limelight by striking with his penultimate delivery in international cricket. It was not his greatest ball by any means - a legside full-toss that Russel Arnold (another retiree) popped off his hip to a diving Gilchrist. But it took his tournament tally to 26 wickets - a record - and his overall World Cup tally to 71 - another record.

Australia were the deserved winners of this contest, and in truth Sri Lanka were worthy runners-up - they plugged away with composure in the face of overwhelming odds, and the margin of Australia's victory was their slimmest in both the tournament and in their three latest World Cup wins.

 Congratulations Australia from AusItalia.com

Australia innings (38 overs maximum)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	AC Gilchrist	c Silva b Fernando	149	129	104	13	8	143.26
	ML Hayden	c Jayawardene b Malinga	38	100	55	3	1	69.09
	RT Ponting	run out (Jayawardene)	37	53	42	1	1	88.09
	A Symonds	not out	23	39	21	2	0	109.52
	SR Watson	b Malinga	3	3	3	0	0	100.00
	MJ Clarke	not out	8	10	6	1	0	133.33
	Extras	(lb 4, w 16, nb 3)	23
	Total	(4 wickets; 38 overs; 169 mins)	281

Sri Lanka innings (target: 269 runs from 36 overs)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	WU Tharanga	c Gilchrist b Bracken	6	11	8	1	0	75.00
	ST Jayasuriya	b Clarke	63	108	67	9	0	94.02
	KC Sangakkara	c Ponting b Hogg	54	82	52	6	1	103.84
	DPMD Jayawardene	lbw b Watson	19	32	19	1	0	100.00
	LPC Silva	b Clarke	21	42	22	1	1	95.45
	TM Dilshan	run out (Clarke/McGrath)	14	20	13	2	0	107.69
	RP Arnold	c Gilchrist b McGrath	1	9	2	0	0	50.00
	WPUJC Vaas	not out	11		21	0	0	52.38
	SL Malinga	st Gilchrist b Symonds	10		6	0	1	166.66
	CRD Fernando	not out	1		6	0	0	16.66
	Extras	(lb 1, w 14)	15
	Total	(8 wickets; 36 overs)	215

Toss Australia, who chose to bat first
Series Australia won the 2006/07 ICC World Cup

Player of the match AC Gilchrist (Australia)
Player of the series GD McGrath (Australia)

Cricinfo