Australia will be firm favorites going into next months ICC Champions knock out in India after dominating the West Indies in Kuala Lumpur.
The fairytale came to an end for the West Indies on Tuesday as they crashed out of the final of the DFL Cup in Kuala Lumpur. They were beaten convincingly by an Australian outfit that got it together when the chips were down and managed a 127 run victory over next years World Cup Hosts.
Chasing 241 to win from their allocation of 50 overs, Brian Lara's West Indians side were dismissed for a modest 113 in 34.2 overs.
Damian Martyn and Andrew Symonds both chipped in with solid 50's and Bret Lee contributed with fine bowling figures of 4 for 24 and took both the man of the match and man of the series awards at the final awards ceremony.
The cricket world now awaits the ICC Champions Trophy in India next month. It will certainly be a good build up to next years World Cup and a great indication of what we can expect.
After four rounds of the Guinness Premiership in England, Bristol find themselves on top and in fine form, Gloucester, Wasps, and Sale are also pushing for that top spot.
The Currie Cup comes to a melting point this weekend in the final round before the semi's with five teams in with a chance of making it. The table is so tight at the top, that the Bulls could either finished 1st or 5th, depending on their match against the Cheetahs. The Cheetahs incidentally have already booked their spot in the semi's and after this weekend we'll know whether the final four will be made up of Lions, Sharks, Bulls, Cheetahs or Western Province.