Cricket World Cup 2007 - A Report

CRICKET WORLD CUP – A REPORT:
Event filled WORLD CUP carnival draw to a close embarked by yet another clinical performance by the AUSSIE’S brilliance in all departments of the game. Many records, trivia and upsets punctuated this edition. Many glittering careers of some stars came to a close, and the sad demise of Bob Woolmer, who gave a new dimension of coaching to the schools of cricket.

Yes the biggest cricket event cane to the West Indies, Defying the logic of the natural pace and bounce that conventional Caribbean pitches had, this time around we could see that the pitches were re-laid and drew various speculations before the start of the event, but these little debates were crossed off after the earlier stages of the game. Some teams which were considered as minnows performed well at the start of the event and came up with some really good performances like IRE reducing SA for 94-8 and BANG’s win over NZ at the warm-up games. Well something like a wake up call for the big guns.

Group Stages:
WI Vs PAK was the first of the group level matches, both the captains of these teams were playing their last tournament and it was a good all-round performance from the hosts saw them through. The series of 24 matches in this stage saw the exit of two major cricketing giants in INDIA and PAKISTAN. Records as expected was broken at ease at this stage, the highlight was the six 6s by Herschelle Gibbs in a single Van Bunge’s over. This ended up for a noble cause. Also we could witness the third tie in the history of the tournament.

CRICKET LOSES HIM:
Before the start of the second stage the world of cricket witnessed the sad demise of a great servant of cricket in Robert Andrew Woolmer, born in INDIA he has served the world of cricket in all dimensions of the game on and off the field. Bob Woolmer was the most highly regarded cricket coach in the world. As a consequence he was employed by two leading Test nations, South Africa and Pakistan, and approached by two more, England and West Indies. As a batsman Woolmer will be recalled for his Cowdreyesque elegance; as a coach, for his innovations, his use of a laptop and the earpiece with which he once communicated with Cronje before it was banned; and as a person, for his gentleness, enthusiasm and generosity with his time and money. He gave too much of himself to too many people, some of whose motives he might not have recognized. Above all he was trusting of the human race and that quality, alas, might have led to his tragic death.


SUPER EIGHTS:
The stream is now narrowed down to a set of 8 teams thoroughly deserving for the second stage of the competition. The Super Eights show cased some thrilling games in the history of the competition, starting from the second encounter till the last in this stage. A double hat trick, few upsets and some clinical performance were in store at this stage. Lasith Malinga broke into the history books as the first ever bowler to claim 4 in 4 as SA survived a scare, And teams like SA, AUS, SRI and NZ were providing the fireworks every time they walked in. Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hayden scored two hundreds each in this stage. The last match of this stage saw the closure of one of the most glittering career in international cricket of Brian Charles Lara, which turned out to be a thriller too. Thanks to this son of Trinidad for his enduring services for the honour of this game. The World Cup offered him a chance to bow out on home soil and on a high, but it was not to be. He showed glimpses of his abilities, but one fifty in seven innings was not enough as West Indies went out with a whimper. He quit, one ODI short of his 300, amid rumours of bitter disputes with administrators. It was a sad, but perhaps inevitable, way for such a genius to bow out. What do they know of genius who only its flaws know? No contemporary cricketer has invoked the word so commonly; none has had it so consistently prefaced by the word flawed than Brian Lara.

To be honest, Srilankan’s were in the peak of their form as a team; they provided two nail-biting finishes the lost one and pulled of the other against SA and ENG in that order. Thanks to their team effort. Australians lived up to their reputation as the won all their matches fairly easily, New Zealanders on the other hand were the dark-horses they had a few hiccups but managed to go to the last four so were the South Africans. England and West Indies never threatened their opposition and of course Bangladesh and Ireland provided some sparks too.


Now it was the time for the predictions; “Who will challenge the mighty AUSTRALIANS?”, “Can South Africa repeat another 438 day?”, “New Zealand - can they come to the fore?”, “Or will it be the Sri Lankan’s dream run?” Yup these were some of the questions that were in the minds of the cricketing fans as these four teams qualified to the last four of the World Cup 2007. The line up was as SRI vs NZ and AUS vs SA.

SRI vs NZ:
In 16 semi-final matches before this one, only three batsmen had scored hundreds - Graham Gooch, against India in 1987, Saeed Anwar, against New Zealand in 1999, and Sourav Ganguly, against Kenya in 2003. Mahela Jayawardene joined that illustrious list - and also equalled Gooch's 115, the highest in semi-finals - with an innings which was an outstanding example of how to pace a one-day innings. The other vital aspect in the Sri Lankan innings was the fact that they strung together partnerships for all the wickets after the first one - from the second wicket onwards, there were stands of 54, 44, 41, 81 and an unbeaten 56. That meant New Zealand never got a toehold into the game. Muttiah Muralitharan's four-wicket haul takes his overall World Cup tally to 53, making him the third bowler - after Glenn McGrath and Wasim Akram - to get the 50-wicket mark in World Cups. Muralitharan is two wickets behind Akram, and 14 behind McGrath in the list of highest wicket-takers in World Cups. Muralitharan now has 23 wickets in the tournament, which equals Chaminda Vaas' record for the most number of wickets in a single World Cup. And eventually SRI qualified for their second final of the history of the tournament by a comfortable 81 runs margin.

AUS vs SA:
The cool and absolute demolition of South Africa was judged by Ricky Ponting as Australia's best win of the tournament and ominously enough for Sri Lanka and all the millions of underdog-backers in the world, he felt their best was still to come. This could have been Glenn McGrath's last international match but typically, on a big stage and in a crunch game, he delivered more spectacular results. His three-wicket haul lifted his World Cup tally to a record 25 - past Chaminda Vaas' 2003-mark of 23 - and ensured that his final game will be a suitably big occasion. This semi-final was effectively over the moment McGrath completed his fifth over. By then he had outstanding figures of 3 for 13, South Africa had slumped to 27 for 5, they never really recovered from that slump. Gibbs and kemp steadied through for some time but SA were bundled out for a paltry 149, It's the first time South Africa have been dismissed for less than 150 in a World Cup game. This was only the second time a team batting first was dismissed for less than 150 in a World Cup semi-final. Though the Australians lost 2 wickets quickly Micheal Clarke and Hayden ensured that they achieved the target comfortably.

Final:
The two best things about the tournament were that the two best teams got to the finals and Australia, who have been the dominant team throughout the competition, were dominant in the finals. They were dominant thanks to Adam Gilchrist - he came in and played the innings of his life. He had struggled a bit for form throughout the tournament. He was hitting the ball alright, but not making big scores. Today he rectified everything with a magnificent innings of 149, which is the highest score in a World Cup final. It was the first time a World Cup final was decided by Duckworth – Lewis method. The Australians lifted the trophy for the third time in a row and they haven't lost a World Cup match for 29 games. Ricky Ponting has captained Australia 22 times at the World Cup and he hasn't yet suffered defeat. The Australians are a very good side, but I don't think any side is that unbeatable and that's an indictment on the rest of the world. But the Australians dominated right throughout the tournament and right till the end.
This also witnessed the close of yet another legend in Glenn Donald McGrath; adept at picking his moments, he finished both his test and ODI career on a high at the Test arena he helped AUS to regain the Ashes and at the World Cup toped the list with a tally with 26 wickets to his name. Not many would have noticed it was his 250th game too. He finally collected the “Player of the Tournament” award after 7 weeks of impeccable bowling display.

FOR A RECORD 3rd CONSECUTIVE TIME NO STOPPING THIS TEAM :)