Australia worthy winners again

Australia showed yet again that they are far and away the most consistent and best one-day side in the world as they eased to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy on Monday to win another global competition with victory over New Zealand.

New Zealand put up a good fight after posting a poor target but in the end they were not quite good enough as they were outplayed by an Australia side that has shown it is still the best despite a series of changes in personnel.

On the evidence of the past week - and in the knowledge that they are likely to improve over the next couple of years - they will be the ones to beat in the 2011 World Cup. An awful lot can change before then, of course, but bet365's price of 4/1 is generous and one that will probably be halved come the start of the tournament.

Hosts India are favourites at 11/4 and on home turf they are very hard to beat but Australia have the pedigree in tournaments and will still be favourites for my money. Sri Lanka and South Africa are both 11/2, while Pakistan are 7/1, England 9/1 and New Zealand 14/1.

New Zealand yet again performed superbly, especially given a series of injuries and will always be better than they look on paper. At 14/1, they will get plenty of each-way support.