Overview

As Waqar Younis pointed out, it will be a T20 final to savour. The Pakistan coach knows better than anyone just how good these two teams are after tasting defeat at the hands of both England and Australia in this year's competition.

But it doesn't take an expert to know that it is the tournament's two standout sides who will go head-on in Barbados on Sunday. Michael Clarke's Aussies have strung up a perfect six wins and Paul Collingwood's men have lost just once, unfortunate to come second in their rain-affected opener against the West Indies.

The respective semi-finals saw contrasting experiences for either side. England had a confidence boosting stroll against an impotent Sri Lanka while Australia could not have been pushed harder by Pakistan, and should benefit from being brought back down to earth for virtually 39 of the 40 overs played on Friday.

For the rest it's really the tale of two perfectly matched teams, high on confidence with balanced strengths and seemingly no weaknesses, enticingly battling it out in cricket's most historic rivalry, in a cricket final out of heaven.

Accordingly the Caribbean World T20 journey has been a intriguingly similar tale for both captains. Clarke and Collingwood have mirrored each other for lack of runs but have also mirrored each other for motivating and bringing out the best in every one of their team mates.

The batting line-ups of each team are packed full of power, hard hitters in abundance and the craft of Hussey and Morgan adding spice to each. In the bowling department England and Australia boast a healthy balance of aggressive pace up front complemented by wily spin through the middle of the innings.

Pace trio Tait, Nannes and Johnson have the slight edge over their English counterparts, having each claimed more victims than England's top quick Stuart Broad. Tait meanwhile has impressively gone for just under five runs an over throughout the tournament. The Aussie spin duo of Smith and Dave Hussey have 16 wickets between them while Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy have picked up 13.

A tangible aspect of the energy and spirit of the two teams has been their fielding. Equally professional, Australia and England have the fittest, hardest working teams in the tournament. Pakistan showed the importance of fielding in their semi-final where a couple of minor slip ups led to extra runs for the Aussies, and ultimately cost the game in a tight finish.

In Bridgetown the Kensington Oval will suit the blitz attack of the much talked about Aussie pacemen, but the English batsmen will also favour the ball coming on to the bat. Barbados has twice been a happy-hunting ground for England having overcome Pakistan and a largely pace-reliant South Africa at the venue while the Aussies themselves have tasted success three times there.

Worryingly there is rain forecast for Barbados on Sunday but with two well matched teams and a mouthwatering clash on the cards expect the cricket 'gods' to intervene and Duckworth and Lewis to play no part.

Potential Match-Winners
Australia: Of the 22 players that will be involved at Kensington Oval there are so many potential match winners to choose from.

Mike Hussey has been viewed as a nurdler, someone who pushed the ball around and feeds the strike to his bigger hitting team mates. Against Pakistan he blew that theory out of the water with a venomous match winning onslaught, reaching 60 off 24 balls.

Clobbering six sixes in that knock he became Australia's leading run-getter in the competition as well as the batsmen with the tournament's highest average, 85.5. Hussey has weighed in the field too, taking 8 catches, a couple of them rather special.

With the confidence gained from his "freakish" semi-final innings and a strike rate of 176.28, expect Hussey to cook once more on Sunday.

England: While being a mere tourist on the recent England tours of South Africa and Bangladesh, Kevin Pietersen has worked hard to re-discover his mojo. Having shown signs of a return to top form in the IPL, KP has flourished and fulfilled Michael Vaughan's prediction that an on-song Pietersen would be the key to England's World T20 success.

After jetting back to the UK for the birth of his first child, the mercurial Pietersen will be in a positive frame of mind. He is England's top scorer, their talisman and the guy with a mentality to match the grit of the Aussies. In fact he's the top run scorer from either side and will be eager to add to his two tournament half-centuries.

Prediction

Twenty20 cricket has often been called a lottery and while the professionalism of both sides has negated that against other opposition in this year's tournament, a lucky break could be the different between two well oiled teams.

While there is nothing to separate the finalists in terms of firepower in all departments, what does give the Aussies the edge is what they showed on Friday night; a must-win attitude ruthlessly instilled over many successful years.

Australia have been there and done it all before while England are yet to win a major final. It'll be a classic but when the dust has settled expect Michael Clarke to be holding aloft the trophy.

Squads
Australia: Michael Clarke (captain), Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Dirk Nannes, Tim Paine, Steven Smith, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Shane Watson.

England: Paul Collingwood (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad , Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

Doug Saxby