Mission complete - just.

A blow-out nearly became a wash-out.

Australia retained the World Cup with a crushing 125-run win over India at the Wanderers as captain Ricky Ponting broke Sir Vivian Richards' legendary record for the highest score in a final, his team amassed its biggest total in one-day history and Glenn McGrath took the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.

But in a drama-charged decider, Australia was almost denied by wet weather.

Having made a mountainous 2-359, Ponting's men were cruising towards victory when rain forced a suspension of play at 3.34pm. India was 3-103 after 17 overs. Twenty-five overs needed to be completed or else the game would be declared null and void and replayed the following day, starting from scratch.

A replay would have prevented Ponting's innings from appearing in the record books and given India a chance for redemption. The huge, deafening Indian crowd was screaming at the umpires to take the players from the field and Glenn McGrath gesticulated with batsman Virender Sehwag, who was stalling.

Play was called off under a heavy downpour. India's passionate mob of supporters literally danced in the rain on the hill, all of them delirious. But the skies cleared, play resumed at 3.59pm in brilliant sunshine and Australia completed a deserved and dominant triumph.

Earlier, Ponting had cracked 140 not out from 121 balls, sending the final two deliveries of Australia's monstrous innings from Zaheer Khan for four and six, eclipsing the unbeaten 138 made by West Indian master blaster Richards in the 1979 Cup final at Lord's.

Ponting walked from the ground hugging his team-mate Damien Martyn (88 not out from 84 balls), waving his bat to all parts of the jam-packed arena known as the Bull Ring, his players on their feet in the dressing room.

In reply, India needed a miracle. Sachin Tendulkar walked to the crease. Chants of "In-dia, In-dia" echoed around and the Indians screamed Tendulkar's name. The stadium shook when he pulled McGrath's fourth ball to the mid-wicket boundary.

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