ICC World Cup Cricket 2007: Facts, figures, and statistics

Few teams have dominated a single World Cup edition the way Australia had in ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. They had won 11 matches on the trot to lift ICC World Cup 2003, but this time each and every match was one-sided. The only team to put up something remotely close to a fight was England, who were bowled out for 247 before holding back Australia till 47.2 overs. Unfortunately, the world champions lost only three wickets, but at least they had only 16 balls to spare.

Most runs? Matthew Hayden. Highest batting average? Michael Clarke. Most hundreds? Matthew Hayden. Most wickets? Glenn McGrath. Best bowling average? Glenn McGrath. Best bowling strike rate? Glenn McGrath. Most dismissals? Adam Gilchrist. Highest partnership? Michael Clarke and Brad Hodge. You name it, you have it. It was Australia all over.

The other team to put up anything close to a competitive show on the charts was Sri Lanka, but the chasm between Australia and them was so gargantuan that their existence was almost unnoticeable. Even then, men who mattered, like Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Lasith Malinga, did well.

Batting records

Hayden scored 659 runs in the tournament at 73 and a strike rate of 101. He could not go past Sachin Tendulkar’s World Cup record of 673, but his average and strike rate were both better than Tendulkar’s 61 and 89. Ricky Ponting makes his presence at three, while the other semi-finalists — Sri Lanka, South Africa, and New Zealand — have a representative each.

Runs were scored so heavily in the tournament that Hayden’s 73 does not make it to the top five; both Ponting and Gilchrist are out of top five as well. However, Clarke and Brad Hodge make the cut, while Steve Tikolo makes an impressive appearance.

Highest batting averages (150 or more runs)

Hodge played a mere five matches and batted only twice, but his 152 included a hundred, and were scored from a mere 117 balls. Thanks to their solitary hundreds, Virender Sehwag and Imran Nazir find places, while Mark Boucher’s strike rate of 137 came over seven innings.

 Highest strike rates (150 or more runs)

ICC cricket World Cup 2007 saw 20 hundreds, one less than the 2003 counterpart. Hayden scored three of these (thus emulating Mark Waugh, 1996 and Sourav Ganguly, 2003), while Kevin Pietersen and Sanath Jayasuriya two each. Nazir (160) was the only one to beat Hayden’s 158, and these two were the only scores in excess of 150. However, few would deny that Gilchrist’s 149 in the final beat both 150s in terms of both quality and impact.

Bowling records

McGrath fell one short of his own One-Day International (ODI) tally of 27 wickets (also from 11 matches) in the 1998-99 Carlton & United Series. Not only did McGrath set a new World Cup record, but the earlier record (Chaminda Vaas’ 23 in ICC cricket World Cup 2003) was equalled by both Murali and Shaun Tait (23 each).

McGrath topped the averages chart, as expected, while Murali came second. Though Murali (from 508 balls) and Tait (from 507 balls) claimed 23 wickets each, Tait went for 4.87 compared to Murali’s 4.15. This knocked Tait out of the top five. While Brad Hogg and Malinga stayed back from the wickets chart, Nathan Bracken (economy rate 3.60) found no difficulty in breaking through.

Best averages (10 or more wickets)

The strike rates top five — McGrath, Malinga, Murali, Tait, and Hogg — were the same as the wickets chart, albeit in a different order.

 Best strike rates (10 or more wickets)

Shane Bond, in his last hurrah at the biggest stage, finished with 13 wickets, an average of 16, and an economy of 3.06; Shaun Pollock did not take a lot of wickets, but his miserly numbers (3.52) showed his class; and Rao Iftikhar Anjum’s five wickets from 15 and an economy rate of 3.65 went in vain.

Best economy rates (100 or more balls)

All three five-wicket hauls in ICC cricket World Cup went to South Africans in a stark resemblance to World Cup 1975, when all three five-wicket hauls had gone to Australians. Despite that (and Pollock’s performance) they could not put up anything spectacular.

The only hat-trick of ICC cricket World Cup 2007 was a spectacular one. With the wickets of Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, and Makhaya Ntini, Malinga became the first bowler — and remains the only one — to take four wickets in four balls in international cricket.

Fielding and wicket-keeping

Gilchrist could not level his World Cup record of 21 from 2003, but he still led the chart with 17. He also equalled Kiran More’s record of five stumpings in the same World Cup edition.

Most dismissals as wicket-keeper

Two men — Paul Collingwood and Graeme Smith — claimed eight catches each, but neither reached the final. In fact, England did not even make it to the top four, which makes Collingwood’s achievement even more special.

Most catches as fielder

Record partnerships

Ganguly and Sehwag had added 202 against Bermuda, but Clarke and Hodge went a step ahead, adding 204 against Netherlands. Interesting contributions came from Paul Nixon, who was a part of both the highest seventh (with Ravi Bopara) and eighth (with Liam Plunkett) partnerships of the tournament.

Highest partnerships

Team aggregates

India managed to break the 400-run barrier in World Cup cricket against Bermuda, but that remained their only victory. There have been several other scores in excess of 350, but perhaps the strangest high score was Pakistan’s 349: it remains the highest all-out score in ODI history.

Highest team scores

Canada played in the tournament, and for the first time they avoided being bowled out for below 50 (in fact, their lowest score in the tournament was 199 against Kenya after they crossed 200 against both New Zealand and England).

Lowest team scores

Biggest margins of victory

By runs: 257

India 413/5 (50) beat Bermuda 156 (43.1)

By wickets: 10

Bangladesh 104/6 (22) lost to Australia 106/0 (13.5)

By balls to spare: 240

Ireland 77 (27.4) lost to Sri Lanka 81/2 (10)

Smallest margins of victory

By runs: 2

Sri Lanka 235 (50) beat England 233/8 (50)

By wickets: 1

West Indies 300 (49.5) lost to England 301/9 (49.5)

Sri Lanka 209 (49.3) lost to South Africa 212/9 (48.3)

By balls to spare: 1

West Indies 300 (49.5) lost to England 301/9 (49.5)

Tie

Ireland 221/9 (50) tied with Zimbabwe 221 (50)

For tournament summary click here