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This isn't the easiest thing to admit, but it turns out that Justin Langer was right. Sorry, Justin.
The Australian men's coach has been a bit grumpy at times through the World Cup at some of the questions raised about his team and campaign. The questions were valid, but they've mostly been resolved in his favour.
In the months before this tournament some of us got carried away. In a new age of massive one-day scores, with teams racking up 350 to 400 every other day, we thought that World Cup scores would explode to new highs.
And amidst that glorious adrenaline-soaked batting, there stood Australia: a team that could quite capably make 280 most times, maybe pushing up to 300 here or there, but without the ambition to do a whole lot more.
They looked out of date, superseded. But much like that hipster era when people got around using monocles and straight razors, everything old is new again.
Once the World Cup for real got underway, tournament pressure has squeezed scores down, much like the champagne football of regular seasons in various codes that can't survive the contested intensity of finals.
Conditions have played into this, with the endless rain before and during the early weeks of the tournament meaning pitches spent most of their time undercover, and curators couldn't properly prepare them. Slow and tacky wickets have made it hard to time big shots and make big scores.
But even where stroke-making is more possible, the pattern has been for teams to get off to big starts only to be hauled back late in the innings, while chasing teams have started too slowly and paced themselves out of the game.
Such was the result in Australia's one loss, when India got a nice surface at The Oval and ran up 352. But otherwise, we've seen Australia's circumspect batting make enough, and their outstanding bowling defend it.
None of this was accidental. The captain Aaron Finch said that while being belted 5-0 in a one-day tour in June last year, team management came to the decision that they couldn't play like England. They didn't have the personnel for that crash-bash style.
So they had to play a style that they could control.
Most of the moves have eventually come good. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey, for instance, has been well backed by Langer despite a limited body of work, and even though Matthew Wade has given constant reminders of his own ball-striking ability.
But even when Wade landed in England with Australia A and promptly set a record for the fastest Australian century in a professional 50-over match, there were no murmurs about Carey's place, because Carey has blossomed at number seven and is increasingly confident in his job.
David Warner's stop-start return to the opening position has built steadily into a 500-plus run campaign, and Finch has helped out Warner by raising his own batting tempo and contributing 500 runs of his own.
Usman Khawaja has been the most obvious focus of difficulty, displaced from his favoured opening spot and then bounced around the order. But he showed his value at first drop against New Zealand when the wickets were tumbling early.
Having Khawaja in the side may not help you turn 300 into 350, but he does provide an insurance policy to turn a 140 into a 250. At this stage Langer has decided that this is the more valuable asset.
Of course, it can't be attributed to genius management that Mitchell Starc has exploded through batting orders, exceeding even his absurd wicket-taking feats from the 2015 World Cup.
It would be easy to guess that Starc would be good, but a wicket every three overs is a long way past good.
But with Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon backing him up with parsimony, and the rest of the bowlers chipping in where required, so far Langer's punts have worked.
Of course, Australia have had their preference of batting first most times thanks to a combination of their own luck and opposition generosity.
Only in their India loss and against a low Afghanistan total have they had to chase.
So if they find themselves in the finals batting second, or bowling on a flat batting surface, their game plan could well still land them in trouble.
But if none of that comes to pass — and bear in mind that the final is to be played at Lord's, one of the lowest-scoring venues in England of recent times — this is the team that could make enough, rather than making a pile, and restrict an opponent regardless.
Plenty of us doubted it, but Langer's strategy is two matches away from total triumph. And whether that comes to pass or not, topping the table and locking in a finals spot weeks in advance is really vindication enough.
Topics: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom, australia
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