Australia lauded its World Cup winning team on Monday for a ‘fairytale’ victory on home soil over New Zealand.
The win was front page news across the country with The Australian newspaper saying: "Pitch perfect Australia lives the dream to claim fifth World Cup."
"Done it without raising a sweat or anybody's pulse," the broadsheet's cricket writer Peter Lalor said.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph focused on the outgoing Clarke, "Pup's fairytale farewell as Aussies crowned world champions," it said on its front page, referring to Clarke by his nickname.”
With Clarke choosing to now focus on Test cricket, The Age in Melbourne said the team was in transition but was in good hands with Steve Smith expected to be named his successor.
"In Michael Clarke and Steven Smith, two generations of Australian cricket steered their team through the final leg of their long trek to a fifth World Cup," wrote Malcolm Knox, the Fairfax Media cricket writer.
