The ninth world cup and the first to be staged in the Caribbean was,at almost seven weeks,the longest since the inaugural tournament was held in England in 1975.Sixteen teams were painfully too much and things became even more predictably disappointing with the surprise early exits of India and Pakistan.The tournament was also marred by the death of Pakistan coach Bob woolmer under mysterious circumstances which also lead to the investigation by Scotland Yard(The world’s best investigating team).
Australia won the world cup 2007 in West Indies against Sri Lanka by Duck worth Lewis method since the match was interrupted by rain and the match was reduced 38 overs per side.sri Lanka’s innings was also interrupted by rain and was reduced to 36 overs.This triumph made Australia to top by taking hat-trick world cup and an overall of four.
Mathew Hayden,Adam Gilchrist,Ricky Ponting,Glenn McGrath and Bradd hogg in Particular gave stellar performances.Hayden got three hundreds on his way to an aggregate of 659 runs,just 14 short of Sachin Tendulkar’s all time mark set up in South Africa.McGrath his last international engagement finished with a record of 26 wickets with Hogg not far behind with 21.Gilchrist ended the tournament in blaze of glory,hitting 149 in the final against Srilanka.He also ended up with 17 dismissals the highest for a wicket keeper in the competition.Ponting scored a century and four fifties in the competition and getting the runs in a nifty rate.
The skipper Mahela Jayawardene(Sri Lanka) was a model of consistency getting a hundred and four fifties and averaging more tan the 60 in the world cup.Murali had 2 four wicket hauls while the slinky pace bowler Lasith Malinga came up with the bowling feat of tournament bagging four wickets in four balls against South Africa.
South Africa and New Zealand were the semifinalists and they also came up with good performances.Jacques Kallis(RSA) shone with the bat getting 485 runs at an average of 80 while Styris(NZ) impressed with his all round skills.For England and West Indies it was a disappointing competition.Both teams could not progress beyond super Eight.Bangladesh and Ireland who made to the elite group because of their shocking victories over India and Pakistan respectively.
