HATTRICK - is a phenomenon in cricket - when a bowler gets it, he records his name in the history but here is something off the odds that hovers on the brink of history today. Australia stares into the twilight of a third consecutive World Cup triumph - only to find Sri Lanka an impediment.

Ponting and Jayewardene pose with the World Cup Trophy. Who will finally hold it?

The obvious reply to the customary question - who will win the World Cup? Is nothing more than a confusing one - Heart favors Lanka but Mind the Aussies. The loyalty for the sub continent neighbours than for those away, beyond a speck instigates the spirit.

Cricket has been a ‘game of mammoth uncertainties’ but the Australians with their power-play abilities have reframed the crux into a ‘game of no uncertainties’ - slaughtering every possible opposition as convincingly. The Australians go into the World Cup final 2007 with 28 straight victories in world cup games - and to further compliment the feat a no defeat record in the new millennium.

Does anyone possess the ability to chain down this eagle?

This is the real question - how can this Australian juggernaut be halted? Perhaps the Proteas were the most likely to answer but the way they were treated in the two games - just says it all. Sri Lanka has looked a side that has transformed itself with every game in the extravaganza and they are the only hope to halt this invincible supremacy of the Kangaroo’s. Aussies had come into the quadrennial extravaganza with a little bit of cloud, but their everlasting battery has shown least signs of any failure since.

A mouth-watering contest at hand:

The final has befittingly fallen upon the great venue of Kensington Oval, Barbados, not just to deliver a champion of the World but to save face for the game on its biggest stage - especially post 50 days of disconcertingly memorable cricket. Its just hours from the grand finale and the stage is well set for the calypso - Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar have been named as the on-field umpires, that would be Bucknor’s fifth world cup final as an umpire.

If Barbados has the pace and bounce it has had through the tournament, then it would play into the hands of the mighty Australians, who relish such conditions, Ponting would definitely unleash his pace battery on a bubbly Barbados track to bounce out the Lankans before they can even get going - leaving it for the mesmerizing top-order to wrap-up the crap. The Aussie batting has just been devastating with the top-five averaging over 90, no team has reached its tail yet in the tournament - a test for the sublime Lions.

The old war-horses of Lanka maybe just a touch complicated for the youth attack with varied specifications from McGrath and Hodge to curtail. On the contrary, Sri Lanka have the edge, bow to the excellence of ‘Pigeon’, there is something more to be said for the enormity of Chaminda Vaas and particularly the spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.

Head to Head:

The two have played 63 games between each other; with 42 in favour of the Aussies while Sri Lanka 19 - at the World Cup from a total of 6 Aus has won 5 while Sri Lanka 1. The stats cry for the ‘Green and Gold’ - the stage is big and the pressure is bold - but who better to handle than the magnanimous wave from down-under.

Final in a final:

This match will be a final act for one of the best bowler to ever play the game - Glenn McGrath will bid adieu to the game he has nurtured for years, he is on the brink of ending as the best player at the world cup that would be the most wonderful exit ever achieved by an Australian sportsman.

It’s also the final game as coaches of Australia and Sri Lanka for John Buchanan and Tom Moody.

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