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Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne thought they wouldn\u2019t even be at this tournament, let alone starring with a 192-run partnership that helped guide Australia to their sixth World Cup title in Ahmedabad on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot in my wildest dreams would I have thought I was going to be here,\u201d Head said after scoring 137 from just 120 balls with 15 fours and four sixes, his second century of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Head thought he was out of the World Cup when he suffered a broken hand in South Africa a fortnight out from the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n
And Labuschagne, who played the anchor with 58 not out from 110 balls, believes his precarious survival in the one-day team was down to divine intervention from the time he replaced Cameron Green as a concussion sub in the pre-World Cup tour of South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a man of faith, and the way the last 19 games have gone, there\u2019s no way I can give the credit to anyone else but the man above honestly,\u201d said Labuschagne, who believed he had been \u201cunofficially dropped\u201d about five times, only to be saved by player injuries or unavailability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne pose with the World Cup Trophy.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only for the last two games I\u2019ve been in the team with a fully fit squad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Even the night before the final Labuschagne thought he was out of the team.<\/p>\n \u201cLast night at ten o\u2019clock the team hadn\u2019t been announced. I was sitting on my bed actually thinking about how can I add value if I was not playing,\u201d Labuschagne said. \u201cMaybe fielding or on bench, what can I do to help, and then at quarter past ten the message came through, and it just said \u2018same team, good luck guys\u2019. So that was a bit of relief.\u201d<\/p>\n Long before he put India to the sword with his bat, Head had changed the game in the field, running back from cover to take a diving, sprawling catch off India captain Rohit Sharma, who was running rampant having scored 47 in 31 balls.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what I can\u2019t believe more, what happened with the hundred and winning a World Cup, or taking that catch,\u201d Head said. \u201cIt was an important wicket, but I didn\u2019t think I was going to get there at first. It started to spin back to me a little bit and yeah, one of those things, I held on to it. Thank God I did because Rohit is obviously an unbelievable player and he is very threatening in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Captain Pat Cummins described Head\u2019s performance as \u201cphenomenal\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of credit should also go to [coach] Andrew McDonald and [chairman of selectors] George Bailey and the selectors to take a punt. He had a broken hand for the half of the tournament, but to keep him in the squad was a huge risk.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the medical team were fantastic, obviously, to get him into a place where he could perform. So that was a big risk. I think we could have been made to look really silly if that didn\u2019t pay off, but you got to take those risks to win a tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Trav, the player we\u2019ve seen in Test cricket, he just epitomises everything I want out of a cricket team. He takes the game on, he plays with a smile, he just puts the pressure right back onto the opposition, and he\u2019s just great fun to be around. So, I couldn\u2019t be happier for Trav.\u201d<\/p>\n Cummins confirmed that Labuschagne was originally the victim of the team\u2019s more attacking approach when he was left out of the initial World Cup squad.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to be pretty brave this World Cup, we didn\u2019t want to kind of limp into the semi-finals, we wanted to be the team that could score 400,\u201d Cummins said, pointing to heavy hitters Head, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh in the top three.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to be really aggressive and then a couple of our all-rounders are obviously aggressive to finish up the innings, so we would rather fail that way, but then Marnus just showed his class and we had to pick him.\u201d<\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary.<\/i><\/b> Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n
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