Statistical Highlights, World Cup final

• Australia became the first team to record a hat-trick of World Cup titles - their fourth in the World Cup history.

• Australian Captain Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath became the only players to have appeared in four successive World Cup finals. Ponting and McGrath now also jointly hold a record for most World Cup appearances - 39 each.

• Steve Bucknor became the first umpire to officiate in five successive World Cup finals.

• This was Gilchrist's third successive fifty-plus score in a World Cup final. He had scored 54 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1999 and 57 against India at Johannesburg in 2003.

• The 172-run partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden in World Cup final was the 16^th century opening partnership for this pair. The pair thus equalled the record held by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

• The stand was the highest for the first wicket in a World Cup final, obliterating the 129 that Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott added in 1979. Gilchrist and Hayden had also posted 105 for the opening wicket in the 2003 final against India, which is the only other century stand in a World Cup decider.

• The Gilchrist- Hayden partnership was also the second-highest partnership for all wickets in a World Cup final, after the 234-run stand between Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn in the 2003 edition.

• Adam Gilchrist (149) became the fifth batsman to score a hundred in a World Cup final, after Clive Lloyd (102 in 1975), Viv Richards (138 in 1979), Aravinda de Silva (107 in 1996) and Ponting (140 in 2003). Gilchrist's hundred came off only 72 balls which makes it the fastest in World Cup final. Lloyd had taken 82 balls for his hundred in 1975 edition.

• Gilchrist's innings of 149 is now the highest by any batsman in a World Cup final, bettering Ponting's 140 not out for Australia against India at Johannesburg in 2003 final.

• Gilchrist also became the fourth wicketkeeper - after Dave Houghton, Andy Flower and Rahul Dravid - to score a century in World Cups.

• Gilchrist's 149 is now the highest by a wicketkeeper in the history of the World Cup, eclipsing Rahul Dravid's 145 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999.

• Gilchrist's first century in the World Cup is his 15th in One Day Internationals. He is the first wicketkeeper to have accomplished the feat of 15 centuries in ODIs.

• Gilchrist's previous highest in the World Cup was 99 off 88 balls against Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2003 WC.

• Gilchrist completed 9000 ODI runs and 1000 World Cup runs during the course of his 149.

• Gilchrist hit eight sixes in his knock, which equals the World Cup record for most sixes in a single innings, jointly held by Ponting (v India in 2003 World Cup Final) and Imran Nazir (v Zimbabwe at Kingston in this World Cup).

• Gilchrist ended the World Cup with 453 runs - most runs by a wicketkeeper in a World Cup competition, surpassing his own record of 408 in the 2003 competition.

• Hayden smashed 18 sixes in the World Cup, most by any batsman in a competition. MS Dhoni had hit 17 sixes in a bilateral series against Sri Lanka in 2005. Incidentally the previous record of maximum sixes in a World Cup tournament was of 15 sixes held by India's Sourav Ganguly in 2003 edition.

• Hayden also scored 384 runs in boundaries alone - 69 fours and 18 sixes. This is the highest aggregate in boundaries for any batsman in a single tournament / competition. The previous record was held by India's Sachin Tendulkar with 324 boundary runs (75 fours & four sixes) in 2003 edition.

• The catch of Upul Tharanga was 50^th wicket-keeping dismissal for Gilchrist in World Cup. He became the first wicket-keeper to reach this landmark.

• Glenn McGrath ended the tournament with 26 wickets against his name, the highest by any bowler in a single World Cup.

• This is the second time McGrath has taken 25 or more wickets in a one-day series. He got 27 in the Carlton & United Series in Australia in 1998-99. The only other bowler to take 25 wickets in a series is Dennis Lillee, who performed this feat in 1980-81.

• McGrath's career tally of 71 wickets at 18.19 in 39 matches is also the best by any bowler in the World Cup history.

• Ricky Ponting enjoys 100 per cent captaincy record in the World Cup, winning all the 22 games - 11 each in 2003 and 2007.

• Australia has not been beaten in 29 consecutive matches in World Cup since losing to Pakistan by 10 runs at Leeds on May 23, 1999. Australia's winning sequence was punctuated by a tied game v South Africa in 1999. However, their 23 consecutive wins is also a World Cup record.

• As many as 373 sixes were smashed in 51 matches of World Cup 2007, which is easily the highest tally of sixes in a tournament. In 2003 edition 266 sixes were hit in 52 games.