In the end it's a team game
After a World Cup of shimmering individual performances, the teams to contest the final will be those who have proved the greatest collective depth. AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, Wahab Riaz, Shikhar Dhawan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mahmudullah and others have burned brightly and flamed out. New Zealand and Australia will meet in Melbourne because they have been the best teams.
When New Zealand lost Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson in their semifinal on Tuesday, they could turn to Corey Anderson and Grant Elliott. At the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday, every time Australia's Plan A went amiss, they were able to come up with a B, a C, a D and ultimately an MJ.
On three occasions Australia lost the initiative in the semifinal, and as New Zealand plan for the final they will contemplate how Michael Clarke's team wrested it back. The first was early in the match when David Warner was out playing a shot safer elsewhere than on the bouncy SCG wicket. This was a first test for Australia's composure, as only Clarke and Shane Watson had previously played in a World Cup semifinal.
The Indians' sails were full and the noise was uproarious. Steve Smith and Aaron Finch applied themselves to staunching potential panic as soberly as central bankers. Technically, the pair adapted by getting up on their toes and sometimes into the air as they got their wrists over the ball. Otherwise they were all contrast: Smith in the form that makes perky centuries commonplace, Finch suffering the many moods of a man working his way back into form in public view. Caught up in the invisible netting of Ravichandran Ashwin's dip and turn, they suffered regular bouts of bat-slapping self-recrimination as they punched at but failed to penetrate the infield. Impatience was their enemy. Twelfth man George Bailey, as busy as Paul Revere, ran out a steady stream of calming messages. While never taming Ashwin, the Australian pair consolidated and prospered, adding 182 in 33 overs to lay the foundation for a giant total.
Three times, then, Australia lost control, and three times they took it back. Three clusters of players did the heavy work: Smith and Finch; Watson, James Faulkner, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson; Josh Hazlewood, Johnson again, Faulkner again, and Clarke. That makes nine, including Bailey, who played a telling role in getting Australia to the final. If anyone had a lesser impact on the big moments it was Starc, Maxwell and Warner, three of Australia's best players through the tournament, the first two of whom still made tidy contributions on the night, while the third will not be kept quiet for long.
And that tells the story of why Australia are in the final. They bat deep, they bowl deep, they are well led and they have no weak links in the field. New Zealand are in the final for the same reason, strength in depth. Cricket is an individual game played in a team context. Over the course of a long tournament, the individual has mattered less and less, the team more and more.