England could even have crossed 300 the way Pietersen and Bell were batting. They eventually ended up with just 247.
The rediff.com expert reckoned that this was far too easy for Australia to chase; Australia looked good for at least 275.
Australia thus started with a pressure index (PI) of 74.
As Gilchrist and Hayden started off with a flurry of 4's, things looked really easy for Australia. The PI was down to 63 when Australia reached 52/0 after 10 overs.
The PI rose to 73 when Gilchrist fell, and then to 88 as Hayden fell for 41 to make it 89/2 at the 20-over mark.
Between overs 20-25, the PI was just below 100 as Ponting and Clarke were circumspect while facing Flintoff and Panesar.
But, soon, Ponting accelerated the scoring rate and the PI dropped rapidly. When Ponting was eventually run out for 86, the match was almost won. Symonds finished it off with a few hefty 4's and 6's.
Such was Australia's dominance that their PI never dropped below 100. In fact the PI was below 80 for 80% of the Australian innings. Only one bad day can deny Australia the crown that it richly deserves.
Sunil T and Sunil Patil of Cranes Software created this pressure map based on the details retrieved from the Rediff scorer.
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