Jubilant Melbourne crowd toasts Australian cricket heroes

Melbourne, March 30: The World Cup winning Australian cricket team were feted at the Federation Square here by a jubilant crowd on Monday as they celebrated Sunday’s win in the fil against New Zealand.

The 15 players and coach Darren Lehmann sat on a stage and soaked up the love bestowed upon them by an adoring crowd.

Opening batsman Aaron Finch revealed he hadn’t changed out of his playing gear until 10.30 a.m. local time on Monday and was still seeping in the excitement of being a world champion.

“It’s an incredible feeling. It’s something you can only dream about as a kid and for it to come to reality is just unbelievable,” Finch was quoted as saying by heraldsun.com on Monday. “I think we’ve got every right to celebrate as long and as hard as we want. We sung the song out in the middle of the MCG just before they dug up the wicket.”

Allrounder Shane Watson said he couldn’t believe he was now a two-time World Cup winner after winning the title in 2007.

“It’s still hard for me to get my head around. I’m not sure if I ever will,” he said.

Clarke, who retired from One-Day cricket after the title triumph at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), said winning the Cup was a dream culmition of his limited-overs career. IANS