Quadra for Australia-There in Succession-2007 ICC World Cup

Australian cricket team in 2000 won almost everything those were up for grab at international level. The golden generation of Australian cricket took them to the level of their greatest ever team of Bradman regiment .Many compared them with the great West Indies team of 1970s .Australia won the 2007 playing like true champions all the way.

The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup , the 9th edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. 51 matches were played, three fewer than at the 2003 World Cup. Sixteen teams two more than 2003 participated in the tournament.

The preliminary league matches were in four groups with four teams’ each. Two teams from each group advanced to super eight. Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa won through to the semi-finals.

Australia defeating Sri Lanka completed the enviable hat trick of World Cup championshipswinning their third consecutive World Cup and their fourth overall. It was a rare feat as Australia remained unbeaten at World cup for 29 consecutive matches since 23 May 1999. The tournament also saw upsets in the first round with tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to making it past the group stage while Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked Test playing nation, and Ireland, an associate (non-test playing) nation, made it to the Super 8s.

Bangladesh surprised mighty India at group stage and favorite South Africa in the Super Eight. The young Bangladesh team announced its presence at World level as giant killer. Ireland also defeated India. Following that match controversy erupted in Pakistan camp. Coach Bob Woolmer died in his hotel room which was followed by police actions.

Venue Selection:

West Indies were dominating forces at World stage of international cricket. They won the first two versions and almost won the third. Yet in matters of lobbying at ICC they were not getting much support for staging World Cup. ICC followed a rotation policy. After England Asian Subcontinent, Africa, Australia –New Zealand were given the opportunity. So West Indies richly deserved the tournament in 2007.The United States contingent lobbied strongly for matches to be staged at its newly built cricket ground in Lauderhill, Florida, but the ICC decided to award all matches to Caribbean nations. Bids from Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and a second bid by Jamaica were also rejected.

We are aware that it is for cricket alone few Caribbean countries join together and play as West Indies. Eight venues across the West Indies were selected to host the World Cup tournament. All host countries hosted six matches with the exceptions of St Lucia, Jamaica and Barbados (the last of which hosted the final) which each hosted seven matches.

Teams:

All sixteen teams holding ICC One Day International status participated in the tournament. This included the ten full members of the ICC (which all have Test and permanent ODI status). The other six (associate) ODI nations are Kenya (which has ODI status until 2009) and five further teams which qualified via the 2005 ICC Trophy(gaining ODI status until 2009, in the process). These nations included Canada, Scotland, Netherlands and making their World Cup Debut Ireland and Bermuda

Spectacular Opening Ceremony: ICC World cup 2007 witnessed an eye catching opening ceremony held on Sunday, 11 March 2007, at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica.

It featured over 2000 dancers and performers representing all strands of West Indian music, from calypso and ragga to reggae and soca. World reputed performers Sean Paul, Byron Lee, Kevin Lyttle, Beres Hammond, Lucky Dube, Buju Banton, Half Pint, Arrow, Machel Montano, Alison Hinds, Tony Rebel, Third World, Gregory Isaacs, David Rudder, Shaggy, the I Threes and Jimmy Cliff kept the cricket world spell bound with their favorite numbers.

The ceremony was attended by several heads of state including the Governor-General of Jamaica. It started with an address by Sir Garfield Sobers and there were messages from the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and Grenada.

Match Results Group Stage

Australia and South Africa being two strongest teams advanced from the group to super eight. There were no surprises no upsets.

The greatest upsets was Bangladesh turning the table on title aspirant and very strong Indian team. The match deserves special mention. Bangladesh caused a shock by beating India by 5 wickets (with 9 balls remaining) at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Many Indian fans have labelled the team’s performance ‘shambolic’ and one of the darkest days in Indian cricket history, while some have responded by burning effigies of team coach, former Australian test captain Greg Chappell.

India batting first was all out scoring 191. For a star studded batting lineup featuring Sourav Ganguly, Virendra Shewag, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvaraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni it was major achievement by the Bengal Tigers. Indomitable Mashrafee Bin Murtaza caused the major damage with his controlled swing taking 4/38 and winning the man of the match award. Abdur Razzak (3/38) and Mohammad Rafique (3/35) stifled Indian batsmen with their own medicine of left arm spin bowling .Ganguly with 66 and Yuvaraj with 44 were only notable scorers. Tamim Iqbal (51), Saqib Al Hasan (53) and Mushfiqur Rahim (56*) led Bangladesh to a memorable victory in their world cup history. All three and Mashrafee are members of 2015 Bangladesh team in Australia. Bangladesh moved into super eight and India got knocked out.

Ireland beating favorite Pakistan at Sabina Park, Kingston on March 17, 2007 by 3 wickets created a major sensation. Pakistan was put to bat on a green top wicket under heavy sky favoring seam and swing bowling. Irish bowlers Boyd Rankin (3/32), Andre Botha (2/5) and Kyle McCallan ( 2/12)  having experience of exploiting such situation wreaked havoc . Only Kamran Akmal (27) and Imran Nazir (24) could show some resistance. Seven players failed to reach even double figures. A score of 132 was not even a challenging one. After rain and bad light delayed proceedings, Ireland’s target was reduced by the Duckworth-Lewis method to 128 runs from 47 overs. Ireland won   scoring 133/7 in 41.3 overs. Mohammad Sami (3/29) and Iftikhar Anjum (2/29   ) bowled with their hearts out. But it was too little too less .Pakistan got knocked out from the tournament. Ireland along with West Indies moved into super eight. The tied match between Zimbabwe and Ireland also did not help the cause of Pakistan.

Bangladesh beating South Africa created another sensation in the tournament .Winning this match the Bengal tigers proved to the cricket world yet again that beating India in the group match was not a flash in the pan. However, Bangladesh played poorly in other super eight matches and lost all. Australia won all matches and were proving their mettle head and shoulder above the rest.

Batting first against South Africa Bangladesh scored a challenging 251 /8 in allotted overs. Bangladesh little master Mohammad Ashraful scored a brilliant 87 off 83 deliveries , Tamim (38) and Aftab Ahmed (35) were two other notable scorers .South Africa in reply were bundled out for 184 . Bangladesh won by 67 runs. Razzak (3/25), Syed Rasel (2/41) and  Sakib ( 2/49) were main destroyers. Only Hershel Gibbs with an unbeaten 56 had some answer to Bangladeshi spin dominated attack.

Semi Finals:

Semi Final one: Played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Sabina Park,Kingston,Jamaica., West Indies on 24April 2007.

Sri Lanka 289/5beat New Zealand 208 All out by 81 runs

Semi Final 2:  Played between Australia and South Africa at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on 25 April 2007

Australia 153/3 beat South Africa 149 All Out by 7 Wickets.

Final played at Kingston Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on 28 April 2007.

Australia 281 /4 in 38 Overs (Adam Gilchrist 149, Mathew Hayden 38, and Ricky Ponting 37) beat Sri Lanka 215/8 in 36 Overs (Sanath Jayasurya 64, Kumara Sangrakara 54,) by 53 runs.

This was the first World Cup final when the sides previously meeting in the 1996 World Cup final appeared against each other. Sri Lanka won at Lahore. Australia had won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka since that loss. The match was Sri Lanka’s second World Cup final appearance and Australia’s sixth, their fourth in a row.

Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Adam Gilchristthe flamboyant Aussie Wicket Keeper batsman played an incredible innings of 149 – the highest for any batsman in a World Cup final – to give Australia an imposing total going in at the break.

A crowd of over 10,000 fans welcomed the Australian team on completing the first World Cup hat-trick – Martin Place, Sydney.

Two ace Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket kept Sri Lankans in the hunt. But when they were removed Sri Lankans gradually fell away from the high asking rates. Sri Lanka’s chances slowly washed away. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka’s innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the end of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light. While Australia’s players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ricky Ponting agreeing to play only spinners. The umpires later apologized for their error: the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method, as Sri Lanka had batted two overs fewer than they had.

It was the third consecutive World Cup Win by indomitable Australians and fourth in 11 world cup editions. Australia won the tournament undefeated; concluding a streak of 29 World Cup games without a loss .Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named ‘Player of the Series.

Controversies:

Death of Bob Woolmer

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead on 18 March 2007 at his hotel room, 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. The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Further investigation revealed the cause of death was “manual strangulation”, and that the investigation would be handled as a murder. After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was murdered, and confirmed that he died from natural causes.

Criticism about Format:

The World Cup was also criticized by the BCCI for its format because India failed to move on from the group stage after losing two matches after playing just 3 matches. 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 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.

What an irony World Cup should have congratulated Bangladesh and Ireland for two major upsets but instead there were hue and cry for not having India and Pakistan in super eight.

Criticism about the Tournament Organization:

The 2007 World Cup organizers were criticized 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,as well as the authorities being accused of “running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitizing it out of existence”.

Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns. The ICC was also condemned for high prices for tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations. ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognized the problem but said it was the local organizers’ fault. However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organizers easing restrictions. 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.

With all its success and failures Caribbean Edition of World Cup will be remembered for many stunning individual performances, major upsets caused by minor teams.

2007, ICC World Cup statistics

• Administrator – International Cricket Council
• Cricket format – One Day International
• Tournament formats – Round robin and Knockout
• Host – West Indies
• Champions – Australia (4th title)
• Participants – 16
• Matches played – 51
• Attendance – 672,000 (13,176 per match)
• Most runs – Matthew Hayden (659)
• Most wickets – Glenn McGrath (26)
• Player of the series – Glenn McGrath (Australia)
• Player of the Final – AC Gilchrist (Australia) 149 run