There were scenes of jubilation as Australia beat their old foes New Zealand to win the T20 World Cup. It was a fantastic performance by the Aussies, blowing away the 2019 Cricket World Cup runners up, reaching the winning target of 173 runs with an over and a half to spare.

It’s the first time Australia have won the tournament, which was founded in 2007, and it’s been a missing piece of silverware in Australia’s cabinet ever since. Now they join the illustrious list of winners, and it’s no surprise really given their pre-tournament status as one of the favourites in the cricket betting at Betfair.

Following Australia’s success, let’s take a look back at their tournament as a whole, and analyse how they got their hands on the prestigious trophy.

Super 12

It’s fair to say that Australia landed in the tougher of the two Super 12 groups, with England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Bangladesh making up their opponents. They got off to the best possible start with a win over South Africa. The target of 118 wasn’t a massive one, but Australia needed 19.4 overs to get the job done — a sign that there was work to do if they were going to hit top gear.

Their second match against Sri Lanka brought a more convincing victory, by seven wickets with three overs to spare. Australia were handed a setback by England though, as an inspired Joss Buttler produced a stunning display to help his team win by eight wickets.

Australia recovered sufficiently to win their final two games against Bangladesh and the West Indies respectively, enough to see them advance to the semi-finals in second place. However, it’s fair to say that the best was still to come. 

Semi-final

They faced a tough test in the last four with Pakistan, who had won all five of their matches in the Super 12, their opponents. Australia won the toss and elected to field, but Pakistan set a tough target of 177 to win, which is a difficult margin to overcome in T20 cricket. However, Australia were in inspired form, with David Warner scoring 49 points as they won with an over to spare.

It was the kind of win that breeds new belief, and Australia went through to the final with a strong feeling that they had what it takes to lift the trophy.

Final

Standing in their way were bitter old rivals New Zealand, who had come through a sensational semi-final with England, another of Australia’s cricket foes. The nature of New Zealand’s win meant they had just as much confidence as Australia, but in the end the Aussies just had too much quality.

A sensational total of 77 runs from Mitchell Marsh laid the platform for stellar performance, as Australia got the job done in impressive fashion, winning by eight wickets and lifting the trophy for the first time.

Many had felt that this Australian team was too old to compete with the best in T20 cricket, but they pulled together as a team and proved everyone wrong.