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As soon as news filtered through that Daniel Vettori wasn't fit to the play in the Champions Trophy final, hearts began to sink at the prospect of Australia marching to victory in a one-sided contest.

The Aussies were already overwhelming favourites and New Zealand, without their captain, simply couldn't match them with bat or ball.

A total of 200-9 was always too few on a decent batting pitch and despite the fine efforts of Kyle Mills and Shane Bond with the new ball, Shane Watson showed that his match-winning, unbeaten century against England was no fluke.

Following consecutive ducks at the start of the tournament, .

Australia have now won the last two Champions Trophies, as well as the last three World Cups and the only consolation for New Zealand was that they didn't have to wear the cream and gold blazers dished out to the champions by the .

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We're on the verge of the semi-finals of , and this tournament has by far exceeded expectations.

From a domestic point of view, it has helped that England have somehow turned their fortunes around with their and their but being here at the event is incredibly exciting.

The has come in for a fair amount of criticism as the Twenty20 game becomes ever more popular, but whilst it must be pointed out that crowds here have been very disappointing (except for South Africa matches and the India/Pakistan game) means that every match has had something riding on it.

We've also had some tense finishes, and there have been more than a few talking points.

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