Biswajit Jha/Zeecric.com

Centurion: Shane Watson’s brilliant knock of unbeaten 105 and his match-winning partnership of 128 with Cameron White helped Australia lift the Champions Trophy for the second consecutive time by defeating New Zealand by 6 wickets in the final here on Monday.

Despite losing two early wickets, Australia slowly crawled their way back into the match, thanks to a solid partnership between Shane Watson and Cameron White. They helped Oz put aside the jittery start and build a solid platform for their team.

Watson and White started off slowly but, once they got themselves in, they took the attack to the opposition, hitting boundaries at will. Though Bond and Mills bowled with a lot of fire, other bowlers were simply disappointing, failing to take wickets as well as giving away easy runs to the Oz batsmen.

All-rounder Cameron White played well for his 62. He slammed 7 fours and a six in his 104-ball knock.

But it was Watson who stole the limelight from his compatriot. It was a treat to watch him all through his innings, mixing aggression and caution in his cup-winning knock of 105. His innings consisted of copybook shots as well as unorthodox whacks into the stand.

Needing 201 for victory, Australia started off poorly as they lost two quick wickets early on. First, Shane Bond removed stumper Tim Paine for one, then in-form captain Ricky Ponting was sent packing by Kyle Mills for the same score.

Earlier, inspired bowling performances by Australian bowlers helped them restrict New Zealand to a meager 200/9 after the Kiwis won the toss and decided to bat first on a two-paced Centurion wicket.

If speedsters- Brett Lee (2/45), Peter Siddle (1/30) and Mitchell Johnson (1/35) inflicted the early damage on the hapless Kiwis, it was offie Nathan Hauritz (3/37) who was the wrecker-in-chief for Australia, running through the Kiwi middle-order with three crucial blows.

For New Zealand, only Martin Guptill (40), Niel Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) contributed with the bat. The other New Zealanders failed to face the fiery attack from the opposition and surrendered meekly.

Peter Siddle drew first blood for Australia as he removed dangerous Brendon McCullum for a duck. McCullum, who was struggling at the crease, played 14 balls for his innings of 0 before trying to flash outside of the off-stump.

After losing their captain Brendon McCullum early, New Zealand made extremely slow proceeding as they scored only 22 runs for the loss of one wicket after 10 overs. Mratin Guptilll and Aaron Redmond played with extreme caution.

Though Redmond (16) and Guptill (40) tried their best to provide New Zealand an ideal platform by forging a 61-run partnership, but as soon as they got out the Kiwis again found themselves in deep deep trouble after losing in-form Taylor for just 6.

Grant Elliot also did not last long as he got a toe crusher from Brett Lee and was caught plumb in front of the wicket for 9. In the meantime, New Zealand somehow crossed hundred run-marks after 27th over.

New Zealand started the day inauspiciously when Danniel Vettori pulled a hamstring and was ruled of Monday`s final. Off-spinner Jeetan Patel replaced Vettori in the final.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Brendon McCullum(w/c), Aaron Redmond, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Neil Broom, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Kyle Mills, Ian Butler, Shane Bond

Australia (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Tim Paine(w), Ricky Ponting(c), Mike Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Cameron White, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle