OTD | Australia lifted their fifth ODI World Cup title in front of 93,000 fans at MCG in 2015

Is there any pride in replicating the actions of others? This is exactly what the Australian Cricket team thinks. In the history of cricket, they have been the most successful team with six ODI World Cups and multiple other international trophies. They won their sixth title last year after a gap in 2019.

On 29th March 2015, they clinched their fifth World Cup trophy by defeating Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand. While playing in front of 93,013 people at Melbourne Cricket Ground Aussies created history by becoming the first Men’s team to win five World Cup titles. They also continued the trend of winning the tournament in home conditions.

Earlier, on the day, New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to bat first. His decision didn’t go well with the team as he was dismissed for a duck in the very first over. James Faulkner and Mitchell Starc completely dominated the opposition in powerplay and left them crumbling.

However, a steady knock from Ross Taylor (40) and Grant Elliott (83) helped the black caps to cross the 150-run mark in the prestigious finals. Eventually, they were bowled out for a mere 183 runs in 45 overs. For Australia Faulkner and Mitchell Johnson took three wickets each while Starc got two.

Australia sailed through the tough start!

The hosts started their run chase similarly to the Kiwis as they lost Aaron Finch for a duck in the second over of the game. However, it was the only occasion where Kiwis had a smile as after that Australia never let the game drift away.

With some classic knocks from David Warner (45), Steve Smith (56*) and skipper Michael Clarke (74) Australia chased the target by losing three wickets. They did it with more than 16 overs in hand. Notably, this was Clarke’s last One Day International innings and he finished it on a high note.

With this victory, Australia drew a line for other teams positioning themselves as the star of the hour. Notably, in the entire tournament Australia lost a single game in the league stage that came against New Zealand only. That was the moment that triggered the hosts to regroup and went on to win the prestigious tournament.