Australia 186-3 (Clarke 74, Smith 56*) beat New Zealand 183 a/o (Elliott 83, Johnson 3-30).
A disappointing performance from New Zealand in the final led to the Aussies winning their fifth World Cup.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Black Caps got off to the worst possible start, losing captain Brendon McCullum to the fifth ball of the match. Mitchell Starc got the ball swinging and nipped one 'through the gate' and got Australia off to a flyer.
It could have been a lot worse for McCullum's side if Ross Taylor (40) and Grant Elliott (83) hadn't have put an 111 run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Wickets then fell at regular intervals with the intimidating Mitchell Johnson picking up 3-30 from nine overs. James Faulkner supported the Mitchell's , Starc and Johnson, with a tidy spell of 3-36 from nine overs. Starc finished with figures of 2-20 from eight overs, and with those wickets, finished as joint leading wicket taker in the tournament with 22 in total, level with Trent Boult. Boult got the breakthrough for the Black Caps, taking the wicket of Aaron Finch with the score on two. There wasn't to be much more joy for Boult and his team mates.
David Warner hit 45 in a 61 run partnership with the run machine Steven Smith, who finished with 56 not out. Smith has had an exceptional last 12 months, scoring runs in huge mass. Australia captain Michael Clarke got the perfect send off, with the classy batsmen retiring after this game. Clarke nearly saw his team over the finising line but was bowled by Matt Henry for 74 which ended a 112 run partnership with Smith.
Henry finished with figures of 2-46 and Boult with 1-40 but it just wasn't to be for a New Zealand who have been impressive all throughout the tournament but were beaten by an Aussie side with a lot of extremely talented players, and a side that could dominate One-Day cricket for a long time. A record 93,000 crowd saw Clarke's Australia side with the tournament for a fifth time.
Talking about the win, Finch said: "You always dream about this as a kid and to have it finally happen especially at home at the MCG is an amazing feeling."Finch's team mate Glenn Maxwell was releived the top order finished the game off: "I was just hoping we didn't lose another wicket because I would have had to walk out there and I was pretty nervous. That was as good as it gets, home final, MCG, 93,000, it doesn't get better than that."
McCullum felt his team have shown just how strong they are but it just wasn't meant to be today, saying: "We obviously weren't able to lift the trophy but the brand of cricket and the entertainment that we've been able to give the people throughout our country but also throughout the world is something we can be immensely proud of."
These two teams have played some really exciting and aggressive cricket in a tournment full of entertainment and talent and they both deserved their place in the final. This game brings an end to Michael Clarke's one-day international career which has seen some marvellous innings by himself and finished in the best possible way. The next World Cup in 2019 will be held in England.