In today’s weekend blog, I am back on cricket. 50 over Cricket World Cup (CWC) is only a few months away. It is going to be held in India from 5th October to 19th November 2023. In the 12 editions of CWC till now 445 matches have been played, in these matches, 1,92,243 runs were scored and 6,366 wickets fell, and batsmen from various countries scored 196 centuries. Here is some interesting data of the CWCs tournaments which took place from 1975 till 2019:
- The first three CWCs (1975, 1979, and 1983) took place in England and the final matches were played at Lord’s Ground, London.
- The first CWC tournament started on 7th June 1975 and in the first final on 21st June 1975 West Indies beat Australia by 17 runs.
- Till 1983, the matches were of 60 over duration.
- The first time tournament was played outside England in 1987 in India and Pakistan, and from then onwards matches were of 50 over duration.
- The winners to date are Australia (5 times), India(2 times), West Indies (2 times), England, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan (1 time each).
- Sachin Tendulkar has scored the maximum number of runs in CWCs, he has scored 2278 runs, followed by Ricky Ponting 1743 runs.
- Ponting has played 46 matches, which is the maximum for any player.
- Two double centuries have been scored in CWCs, by Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill, who has scored the maximum run in match-237 runs.
- The maximum number of centuries scored by players- Sachin Tendulkar & Rohit Sharma 6 each.
- In the knockout stages- the maximum number of runs scored by batsmen, Ponting 442 runs, Guptill 346 runs, and Tendulkar 339 runs.
- In a single edition, Sachin Tendulkar has scored maximum runs- 673.
- The fastest century is scored in 50 balls by Kevin O Brian in 2011.
- Maximum ducks- this record is shared by Nathan Astle of New Zealand and Pakistan’s Izaz Ahmed. 5 ducks each.
- Maximum sixes hit by a player in CWCs tournaments- 49 by Chris Gayle. In second place is AB De Villiers with 37 sixes.
- Glen Mcgrath has taken maximum wickets-71, followed by Muralidharan of Sri Lanka- 68.
- The best bowling figure- Mcgrath 7 for 15 vs Namibia in 2003.
- Highest wickets in a single tournament, 27 by Mitchel Stark in 10 matches, during 2019 CWC. He is also the only bowler who has taken 5 wickets in match three times.
- Mcgrath has taken max wickets 15 in 9 matches in the knockout matches.
- India’s Chetan Sharma took a first hat trick in 1987 against New Zealand
- Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka has taken hat tricks twice (2007 & 2011)
- In the knockout stage, the best bowling figure is by Gary Gilmour of Australia 6 for 14 in 1975.
- Maximum conceded by the bowler, by Lasith Malinga 13335 runs in 40 matches.
- In the 12 finals to date, 7 times the team batting first won the title, 4 times teams chasing won, 1 match was tie, and was decided by super over.
- Australia and New Zealand have played a maximum semi finals-8 times each, followed by India 7 times
- Australia has won a maximum semi-final-6 times, whereas New Zealand has lost a maximum semi finals-6.
- Australia has played maximum finals- played 7, lost 2.
- The maximum score in the final was by Australia 359 runs against India in 2003.
- 3 players won the Man of the Match award in both semi-final and finals, they are Mohinder Amarnath (1983), Arvind D’Silva (1996), and Shane Warne (1999).
- Kumar Sangakara of Sri Lanka as Wicket Keeper has taken maximum victims (41 catches and 13 stumping in 37 matches).
- Australia’s Adam Gilchrist has taken maximum catches as wicket keeper-45 catches in 31 matches.
- Maximum catches by a wicketkeeper in a match-6 catches by Gilchrist 92003) and Sarfaraz Khan (2015)
- As a fielder maximum catches -28, and followed by 20 by Root of England.
- In one match maximum catches taken by a fielder- 4 by Mohd Kaif of India, Soumya Sarkar of Bangladesh, and Umar Akmal of Pakistan.
- India is the only country that has CWC in both formats 60 over and 50 over.
- The smallest victory margin of 1 run, was achieved by Australia against India in 1987.
- England is the only country that has won the CWC(2019) in a unique way, after scoring a tie with New Zealand, even super over ended in a tie, England won the title as they had hit more fours in the match.
- In the CWC tournament (1999). The semi-final match between South Africa and Australia ended in a tie. Australia qualified for the final as they had a better run rate in the Super 6 stage.
- The biggest victory margin in the final is of 125 runs when Australia beat India in 2003.
- In 1999, Australia beat Pakistan by 8 wickets, in just 20.1 overs. This is the biggest victory margin in the final with a number of balls and wickets remaining.
- In league stages, the biggest victory margin-275 runs, when Australia beat Afghanistan in 2015.
- 12 teams have won matches by 10 wickets, New Zealand (3 times), South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies ( 2 each).
- In 2003, Sri Lanka beat Canada with 272 balls remaining, the biggest victory margin in league stages.
- Rohit Sharma (Indi) is the only batsman who has hit 5 centuries in a tournament (2019), next is Kumar Sangakara (Sri Lanka)- 4 Centuries.
- Eoin Morgon hit maximum sixes in a match- 17 against Afghanistan in 2019.
- Highest Partnership by batsmen- 372 runs by Chris Gayle and M Samuel against Zimbabwe in 2015.
- Ricky Ponting (Australia) has led his country in 29 matches in CWC, has won 26, lost 2, no result 1.
- England’s David Shepherd has officiated as an umpire in 46 matches, followed by Steve Buckner of West Indies in 45 matches.
These were some interesting records and facts about CWC, hope you enjoyed reading the same.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
30th June 2023