Records/Highlights/Photos/Videos/Full Details of World Cup 2007

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Statistical Highlights

• Ireland tied their first match against Zimbabwe, only the third time a tie had occurred in the World Cup.
• Ricky Ponting's 113 against Scotland was his 4th century in World Cup matches. He joined Mark Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the list of highest century makers in World Cups.
• Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes in one Daan van Bunge over for South Africa against the Netherlands in their Group A match in Warner Park, Saint Kitts and Nevis, becoming the first player to achieve the feat in ODI cricket.
• South African batsmen hit 18 sixes in the game against the Netherlands; This is the highest number of sixes hit in an innings of a World Cup ODI. This record was equalled by India in the game against Bermuda.
• Brendon McCullum scored the fastest World Cup fifty (off 20 balls) for New Zealand against Canada, beating Mark Boucher's 21-ball record set against the Netherlands six days earlier.
• Bangladesh earned qualification from the group stage in a World Cup for the first time, by beating India and Bermuda. Bangladesh later went on to beat South Africa in the Super 8 stage.
• Ireland defeated Pakistan in their group match and knocked them out of the tournament in the process. Ireland proceeded to qualify for the Super 8 stages in their first ever World Cup.
• Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room the day after his team's defeat against Ireland. A ****** investigation was launched due to the circumstances of Woolmer's death, but Jamaican police have since confirmed Woolmer died from natural causes.
• Imran Nazir scored 160 for Pakistan against Zimbabwe in their final Group Stage match; this was the highest individual List A innings ever made in the West Indies.
• Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his retirement from one-day cricket, and resigned from the Pakistan captaincy, effective from the conclusion of Pakistan's involvement in the tournament.
• Disciplinary action was taken against several English players for breaking their curfew: several players were fined and Andrew Flintoff was stripped of the English vice-captaincy and left out of their group match against Canada.
• India scored 413-5 in 50 overs against Bermuda, breaking the World Cup record for the highest team total, and became the first team to score 400 runs in a World Cup innings. It was also the highest List A team total ever made in the West Indies. India bowled out Bermuda for 156 to win by 257 runs, the largest winning margin in ODIs.
• Malachi Jones of Bermuda and Mohammed Yousuf of Pakistan became the 2nd and 3rd players respectively to take a wicket with their 1st ball in World cup cricket. Ian Harvey being the 1st against Pakistan in 2003.
• Matthew Hayden scored the fastest World Cup hundred (off 66 balls) for Australia against South Africa, one ball quicker than the previous record held by John Davison whilst representing Canada against the West Indies at the 2003 event.
• Both Herschelle Gibbs and Matthew Hayden were awarded honorary citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis after their individual record-breaking feats.^[25]
• Lasith Malinga became the fifth player to record a hat-trick in the World Cup, taking three wickets in succession for Sri Lanka against South Africa, and with his next delivery proceeded to become the first player ever to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in One Day International cricket. The other four are Chetan Sharma (India vs NewZealand, 1987), Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, 1999), Chaminda Vaas(Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, 2003) and Brett Lee (Australia vs Kenya, 2003).
• Glenn 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.
• West-Indies captain Brian Lara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
• Following Ireland's successful World Cup debut: defeating two full members (Pakistan and Bangladesh), Ireland was promoted to the main ODI championship table.^[26]
• Ireland's wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh boosted their team's ODI rank to number 10 ahead of Kenya and full member Zimbabwe.
• Adam Gilchrist and Matthew 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.
• Matthew 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 joins Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly as the only players to score three centuries in a World Cup.
• By officating in the England - West Indies match Rudi Koertzen overtook David Shepherd as the most capped umpire in ODI's. The match was Koertzen's 173^rd ODI. Shepherd officiated in 172 ODIs.
• Steve Bucknor officiated in a record fifth consecutive World Cup final.
• Sri Lankan player Russel Arnold announced his retirement from international cricket.
• After more than a decade at the helm, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming resigned the captaincy of New Zealand's one-day team in the wake of his team's defeat in the Semi-Final of the World Cup against Sri Lanka at Sabina Park. He captained New Zealand team in 218 one-day matches.
• Australia created history by participating in their 4th consecutive Cricket World Cup final.
• South Africa's score of 149 all out against Australia in the semi-final was their lowest World Cup score ever.
• Glenn McGrath's haul of 3 wickets against South Africa lifted his wicket tally to 25 in the tournament, the most in a World Cup so far.
• Matthew Hayden's innings of 41 against South Africa brought up the remarkable 600 runs in a tournament, becoming the 2nd person to do so. He achieved a further 38 runs in the final against Sri Lanka, leaving him 14 short of Sachin Tendulkar's record of 673 runs.
• The 172-run partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden is the highest opening partnership in a World Cup final.
• Adam Gilchrist became the 5th batsman to score a century in the Cricket World Cup final in 2007 after Clive Lloyd in 1975, Viv Richards in 1979, Aravinda de Silva in 1996 and Ricky Ponting in 2003. His score of 149 is the highest individual score ever in the final of the World Cup beating the previous highest of 140* by Ricky Ponting in 2003.
• Australia became the first team to win 3 consecutive World Cups.
• Glenn McGrath retired from all forms of international cricket following the successful campaign.

While Bangladesh and Ireland exceeded expectations by advancing to the second round, England and the West Indies failed to make the last-four. England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was dismissed as vice-captain and banned for one match after capsizing a pedalo in the sea after his team's defeat to New Zealand.

Death of Bob Woolmer

	Wikinews has articles related to the Death of Bob Woolmer:
Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer dies at age 58 Pakistan coach's death 'suspicious' Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer ******ed; investigation underway Report claims that Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer was poisoned Bob Woolmer not ******ed, says Scotland Yard detectives

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead on 18 March 2007, one day after his team's defeat to Ireland put them out of the running for the World Cup. Jamaican police performed an autopsy which was deemed inconclusive.^[27] The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation.^[28] Further investigation revealed the cause of death was "manual strangulation",^[29] and that the investigation would be handled as a ******.^[30] After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was ******ed, and confirmed that he died from natural causes.^[31]


Criticism

The 2007 World Cup organizers were criticized early on for being over-commercialized and, in particular, the generally smaller crowds have been blamed on the ICC's security restrictions on things such as outside food, signs, replica kits and musical instruments, despite Caribbean cricketing customs,^[32] as well as the authorities being accused of "running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitising it out of existence".^[33] Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns.^[34] The ICC were also condemned for high prices for tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations.^[35] ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognized the problem but said it was the local organizers' fault.^[36] However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organizers easing restrictions.^[37] Although they did not meet the target of US$42m, the revenue from ticket sales was double the ticket sales revenue from the last world cup and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup with more than $32 million in ticket revenue.^[11][12][38]
The World Cup was also criticized for its format, with India and Pakistan failing to move on from the group stage after losing two matches. This led to Ireland and Bangladesh entering the long Super Eights stage and consistently being defeated (bar another upset by Bangladesh over South Africa). The elimination of India and Pakistan also caused a large exodus of subcontinental fans from the Caribbean, and removed the prospect of an India vs Pakistan Super Eights match, generally considered one of the most revenue generating and electric matches in the tournament.^[39] The BCCI later claimed it would see to it that the ICC will alter its World Cup format for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.


The tournament was also criticised as being too long. At 6 weeks, it was the same length as the 2003 World Cup, but longer than the 5 week 1999 World Cup and the 4 week 1996 World Cup. The famous West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding also criticised the qualification process for the 2007 World Cup. Holding expressed doubts over the benefit to less established teams of turning up and being heavily defeated.^[40] However, former Scotland captain George Salmond claims that the opportunity to play one-day cricket against the bigger teams is invaluable for smaller teams such as his own, and questioned the validity of Holding's statements.^[41] The majority of the experts and players participating in the tournament backed up the smaller teams taking part in the World Cup.^[42] This was further backed up with Ireland and Bangladesh making the Super 8s and being competitive and sportsmanlike throughout the tournament.^[43]
Further criticism was generated by the confusion at the end of the final match, during which the umpires suspended play due to bad light and while official announcements and the scoreboard declared Australia the winners and the Australian team celebrated, while the umpires incorrectly insisted that the game was only suspended not completed, and that 3 overs remained to be played. And so in farcical light conditions, Sri Lanka batted out the 3 overs following a gentleman's agreement between the two captains.^[44] The umpires and ICC apologized for the unnecessary situation and cited it as an unnecessary fundamental error due to the pressure of the situation.^[45] In June the ICC announced that the officials involved — onfield umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and match referee Jeff Crowe — would all be suspended from the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.^[46]


Preparation problems

A number of preparation problems surfaced before the start of the World Cup. Some of the venues were not complete by the opening ceremony on 11 March 2007.^[47] At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns.^[48] At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm up matches due to accreditation problems.^[49] Additionally, South Africa and Australia both expressed concerns over practice facilities

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Stephen Fleming's New Zealanders impressed but yet again failed to cross the semi-final hurdle, while South Africa fell to Australia in the penultimate round.

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Adam Gilchrist dominated the final, hammering a 104-ball 149 with a squash ball in his left glove which seemed to help him hit straight. And Australia were virtually assured of a record third successive title after posting 281-4 off 38 overs, thanks to wicket-keeper Gilchrist's blitz which contained eight sixes and 13 fours.

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Disappointment was also in store for spectators in Bridgetown when the rain-hit final between Australia and Sri Lanka ended in semi-darkness. The officials believed that 36 overs had to be completed in Sri Lanka's innings, apparently forgetting a minimum of 20 were needed to obtain a result. "It was a mistake on our behalf," match-referee Jeff Crowe said after the match, the first of the nine Cup finals to be abbreviated. "I should've known the rules. It was a human error, I guess, at the end of the day."

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Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara made bold half-centuries but their team finished at 215-8 as their target was revised to 269 off 36 overs following a rain interruption.