Australia 252 for 8 (50 overs: Simmons 84, White 64) beat West Indies 159 all out (40 overs: Willett 83) by 93 runs On Bob Marley's birthday yesterday storms prompted an exodus from Lincoln in the U-19 World Cup semi-final between the West Indies and Australia.

Today only the West Indies had to contend with the hurricane that Australia blew through their batting line-up - a performance that propelled them into what may be an anti-climatic final with South Africa on Saturday.

The tournament's two most exciting teams met at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval today at the sharp end of a three-week long event that has comprehensively catered for the players' and officials' every whim. This is despite a journalist, writing for the Pakistan newspaper Dawn, complaining that his boys had to queue for the bathroom and do their own laundry. It is widely predicted that the writer in question will be the last person to gain media accreditation for the next big cricket event, the 2003 World Cup. The main question is, however, which players will graduate from Lincoln to South Africa?

Australia, odds-on favourites to win the tournament, eased to a 93-run victory. Man of the Match Craig Simmons (84) and captain Cameron White's (64) match-winning third-wicket stand of 105 in 18 overs showcased what may be the future of Australian Test batting. Earlier Geoff Marsh's son, Shaun, impressed briefly with 19. The elder Marsh has been here most of the tournament, as has England's Nick Compton's father Richard, who, in turn, is son of Denis. Ordinary fans moaned that there was little room left for them.

This is a university-based competition that has embodied some of the characteristics of campus living. The most mature and disciplined have won the prizes, while the talented but unready have learnt some life lessons under some wise tutoring from ambitious coaches on the way to higher-profile postings.

The difference between the demeanor of Australia's coach Wayne Phillips - charm personified - and Scotland's Mike Hendrick, who played the grumpy old bugger role off pat, is the difference between Australian and English cricket. The West Indies' Gus Logie has a reticent assurance that befits his background as a member of one of the great international teams of the 1980s, which was usurped by the premier team of the 1990s, Australia. The next top team of this decade will surely stem from Phillips' multi-talented, well-drilled and mature Australians.

A game dominated by spin typified a tournament where slow bowling has been the norm. Even the West Indies have given up trying to bowl fast. Logie believes this is because of their home pitches, which tend to be privately owned, less well-tended and far more docile than they were a generation ago.

Both sides today used a quartet of spinners. Australia's economical slow left-armer Xavier Doherty (2 for 26), whose 19th birthday was last week, was the best of them, as he has been all tournament. Doherty and Beau Casson (1 for 28 off nine overs), a chinaman bowler, also forced two run-outs with mid-innings bowling that was as accurate as it was varied.

Doherty and White contrived to trap West Indies captain Narsingh Deonarine when 150 runs were needed in 28 overs. Deonarine was caught sweeping after adding 82 for the third wicket with Tonito Willett, who went on to make 83 before being caught at long-on off Doherty.

Ultimately Australia's 252 for 8 overwhelmed the West Indies' 159 all out. The game took place in front of a handful of English cricket fans, waiting for their team to hit Christchurch for the first one-day international on February 13, one follower of the Sri Lankan boys and seemingly dozens of uniformed New Zealand Cricket and ACB representatives crowded into marquees discussing the reports they have left on their desks. Perhaps the Australian suits were trying to work out why none of their players more notable than Alan Mullally has gone on from this event, now established as a biennial staple, while the Caribbean nations have found Brian Lara, England Nasser Hussain, Pakistan Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sri Lanka Sanath Jayasuriya.

Not that supporters were a prerequisite of cricket here at Lincoln, obscurely placed in an empty university 20km from Christchurch, among some flat fields, next to a village that shuts down for the night at 9pm.

Australia have adapted best to three weeks in overcast Lincoln, the West Indies are on the rise, South Africa are as competitive as ever. England were woefully disappointing and the hosts, New Zealand, had their triumphs across the Tasman, where several graduates of this U-19 school - Chris Cairns, Lou Vincent, James Franklin and others - demonstrated the rewards that a short course in campus life can bring.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd