 Domination of Australia in 2007
31st Dec 2007 19:00 IST
Manish Kumar
At the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, the 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a "Super 8" format.
From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup.
Australia's unbeaten record in this year's tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 1999-05-27, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup in England.
Ponting's 113 against Scotland was his fourth century in World Cup matches. He joined Mark Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the list of highest century makers in World Cups.
Hayden scored the fastest World Cup hundred (off 66 balls) for Australia against South Africa, one ball quicker than the previous record. McGrath became the leading wicket taker in the history of the World Cup, taking his 56th World Cup wicket against Bangladesh, overtaking Wasim Akram's 55 wicket total.
Adam Gilchrist and Hayden put on 76 for the first wicket in the Super-8 game against Sri Lanka. This was their 40th partnership of over 50 runs. The previous highest was 39 partnerships of over 50 runs between Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge of the West Indies.
Hayden's century against New Zealand was the 100th time a century was scored in the World Cup and the third time any individual player scored three centuries in one tournament. He joined Mark Waugh and Ganguly as the only players to score three centuries in a World Cup.
Australia created history by participating in their fourth consecutive Cricket World Cup final and becoming the first team to win it three consecutive times. South Africa's score of 149 all out against Australia in the semi-final was their lowest World Cup score ever.
continued.. |
