Bridgetown (Barbados), April 29: For man of the match Adam Gilchrist, Australia’s hat-trick of World Cup titles, completed with a 53-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval here in the Saturday gloom was an "unbelievable feeling".

Gilchrist powered the Australians to their challenging 281/4 with a stunning effort of 149 from 104 balls that included 13 boundaries and a jaw-dropping eight sixes, and he later said: "It was really pleasing to do it on an important day. I’ve been getting a lot of starts but hadn’t converted.

"It’s terrific. The guys have worked hard," said Gilchrist, whose eight sixes equalled a World Cup record. Gilchrist said the two most important Australians to thank for the team’s successful tilt at the title hat-trick were retiring fast bowler Glenn McGrath and coach John Buchanan.

Said Gilchrist: "Much will be said about Glenn and he deserves all of it, but also John Buchanan. He has been amazing for Australian World Cup cricket, so well done mate. The great thing about our team, and batting with Haydos is our partnership. "We’ve been quite successful getting our team off to a good start. Matty was superb. He had gone on to get a big score three or four times in the tournament, and we had the batting strength to capitalise on those starts. It’s a high standard this team sets and when you don’t reach those standards it’s easy to doubt yourself, so I want to thank the guys for continuing to encourage me."

So how was this World Cup win different from those in 1999 (in England) and 2003 (in South Africa), Gilchrist said: "I would call it the never-ending one, I think. But it’s been really satisfying. It’s been a long campaign and there were question-marks over the way we finished our summer at home. But it was just great fun and I want to thank all the supporters who have been brilliant."