Especially agonising for Pakistan, considering their awesome performance with the bat. Australia's bowling attack has proved to be pretty much unstoppable throughout the tournament, with Dirk Nannes, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait using typical brute Aussie force to demolish the opposition.
However Pakistan had no such trouble, with the Akmal brothers starring on the tricky Beausejour pitch, bludgeoning the ball to all corners of the ground, with Kamran scoring 50 and Umar 56* on the way to a total of 191-6 at 9.55 runs per over.
It was always going to be a tough total, and I had given up hope of seeing a Pom vs Aussie final pretty soon into the Australian innings. The falling of Cameron White on 139-6 was pretty much the nail in the coffin. And then queue Mike Hussey, who was just about to begin an innings which was simply the greatest T20 cricket has ever seen.
He began smashing boundaries all over the show, but despite this, the Aussies scoring rate was not enough. It came down to the last over with Australia needing 18 to win. The game was pretty much safe. Hussey called for a drink before Saeed Ajmal stepped up to bowl his first delivery to Mitchell Johnson, who edged it to fine leg for a single.
(Above) This Hawk-Eye graphic does a good job of showing the enormity of Mike Hussey's task going into the final over. The likelihood of an Australian win was less than 10%.
Michael Hussey was now facing. Ajmal made the fatal mistake of bowling it short, before Hussey pulled it over the rope for a maximum. The next delivery came, and Hussey sent it miles over the long on boundary, bringing up his 50. Did he care about this milestone? Did anyone? Did we heck, as we all started to think that Michael Hussey was single-handedly about to do the impossible.
In that moment Twenty20 cricket was displayed at its best. Sometimes people question whether it can ever be as dramatic as a momentous 5 wicket haul or a heroic 100 to swing a test match, but all the drama and passion and despair in those seconds proved that yes, yes it can.
So, England vs Australia final, and secretly I'm delighted. It'll be a thrilling match against the two biggest rivals in cricket, and the close shave the Aussies had today should spur us on and increase our confidence. Once things started to unravell for Australia today they fell to pieces, something we will undoubtedly take into consideration for Sunday's game.
And of course, hard luck Pakistan!
