Ndtyjky

ICC Cricket World Cup
West Indies 2007

Logo of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007
Dates	13 March–28 April
Administrator(s)	International Cricket Council
Cricket format	One Day International
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Host(s)	West Indies
Champions	Australia (4th title)
Runners-up	Sri Lanka
Participants	16 (from 97 entrants)
Matches played	51
Attendance	1,172,000 (22,980 per match)
Player of the series	Glenn McGrath
Most runs	Matthew Hayden (659)
Most wickets	Glenn McGrath (26)
← 2003 2011 →

The 2007 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup 2007) was the 9th edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International (ODI) format. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2003 World Cup (despite a field larger by two teams).

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 and their fourth overall. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The tournament also saw upsets in the first round with tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to advance past the group stage^[1]. The following day police announced that the death of Bob Woolmer was suspicious and ordered a full investigation.^[2]. Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked Test-playing nation, and Ireland, an associate (non-Test-playing) nation, advanced to the Super 8s.

Following the tournament the ICC distributed surplus tournament revenues of US$239 million to its members.^[3]

Host selection

The World Cup was awarded to the West Indies via the International Cricket Council's rotational policy. It is the first time the ICC Cricket World Cup has been held in the Caribbean despite the fact that the West Indies cricket team had been the second most successful team in past World Cups.^[4]

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.

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 (which hosted the final), each of which hosted seven matches.

The Jamaican government spent US$81 million for "on-the-pitch" expenses.^[5] This included refurbishing Sabina Park and constructing the new multi-purpose facility in Trelawny through a loan from China. Another US$20 million was budgeted for 'off-the-pitch' expenses, putting the tally at more than US$100 million or JM$7 billion.

This put the reconstruction cost of Sabina Park at US$46 million whilst the Trelawny Stadium was estimated to cost US$35 million.^[6][7] The total amount of money spent on stadiums was at least US$301 million.

Brian Lara Stadium, in Trinidad, lost its status as a pre-tournament warm-up match venue on 21 September 2006.^[8]

Venues

Antigua and Barbuda	Barbados	Grenada	Guyana
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium Capacity: 20,000	Kensington Oval Capacity: 27,000	Queen's Park Capacity: 20,000	Providence Stadium Capacity: 15,000
Jamaica	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Saint Lucia	Trinidad and Tobago
Sabina Park Capacity: 16,000	Warner Park Stadium Capacity: 10,000	Beausejour Stadium Capacity: 20,000	Queen's Park Oval Capacity: 25,000

Warm up venues

Qualification

The captains of the 2007 Cricket World Cup

The field of 16 teams, the largest ever for the Cricket World Cup, consisted of all 16 teams which currently held ODI status. This included the ten full members of the ICC, all of which have Test and permanent ODI status. The other six (associate) ODI nations were Kenya (which had ODI status until 2009) and five additional teams (previously three) that qualified via the 2005 ICC Trophy (gaining ODI status until 2009 in the process). These nations included Scotland who won the ICC Trophy, Canada, the Netherlands, and—making their World Cup debuts—Ireland and Bermuda.

Full Members
Australia	Bangladesh
England	India
New Zealand	Pakistan
South Africa	Sri Lanka
West Indies	Zimbabwe
Associate Members
Bermuda	Canada
Kenya	Ireland
Netherlands	Scotland

Squads

The sixteen teams were each asked to announce their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICC's Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury.

Media coverage

The official mascot of the tournament was Mello, an orange, anthropomorphic, raccoon-like animal.

The World Cup had grown as a media event with each tournament. The sponsorship and television rights that were awarded primarily to cover the 2003 and 2007 World Cups raised over US$550 million.^[9] The 2007 World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to a viewing audience estimated at more than two billion viewers and was expected to generate more than 100,000 unique visitors to the West Indies travelling solely for the tournament.^[10][11]

The 2007 Cricket World Cup featured an orange, anthropomorphic raccoon-like creature named "Mello" as its mascot. It was announced during matches that Mello had no race, species, age or gender—it was an attitude, the attitude of the young people of the West Indies. The official song for the World Cup was "The Game of Love and Unity" by Jamaican-born Shaggy, Bajan entertainer Rupee, and Trinidadian Fay-Ann Lyons.

The 2007 tournament recorded the highest ticket sales for a Cricket World Cup, selling more than 672,000.^[12] Attendance leading into the semi-finals for the 2007 World Cup was 403,000, an average of 8,500 supporters per match.^[13]

Leadup

All major Test-playing nations had schedules allowing them to play a large number of ODI matches against other major ODI teams just prior to the World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, and England took part in the Commonwealth Bank Series where England defeated Australia in the finals. Australia then went to New Zealand for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, losing 3–0. South Africa played five ODIs against India (South Africa won 4–0) and five against Pakistan (South Africa won 3–1), while India also played four ODIs against the West Indies (India won 3–1) and four ODIs against Sri Lanka (India won 2–1). Bangladesh played four ODIs against Zimbabwe (Bangladesh won 3–1) and won a tri-series against Canada and Bermuda. The associate ODI teams took part in the World Cricket League, which Kenya won, and were also involved in other series prior to the World Cup.

The rankings of the teams at the beginning of the Cricket World Cup were:

Ranking	Team	Points
1	South Africa	128
2	Australia	125
3	New Zealand	113
4	Pakistan	111
5	India	109
6	Sri Lanka	108
7	England	106
8	West Indies	101
9	Bangladesh	42
10	Zimbabwe	22
11	Kenya	0
12	Scotland	0% / 69%
13	Netherlands	0% / 50%
14	Ireland	0% / 44%
15	Canada	0% / 33%
16	Bermuda	0% / 28%

Note:Teams 12–16 did not have official ODI rankings leading up to the World Cup; they are ranked based on their win percentage against full members and then wins against associate members prior to the tournament.^[14]

Warm-up matches

Prior to the main tournament all 16 nations played a series of warm-up matches to prepare, experiment with different tactics, and to help them get acclimated to conditions in the West Indies. The warm-up matches were not considered as official ODIs.^[15] The matches were played from Monday 5 March until Friday 9 March. The matches included a surprise victory by Bangladesh over New Zealand.

Opening ceremony

Alison Hinds performing during the ceremony.

Fireworks in the opening ceremony of the 2007 Cricket World Cup

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Opening Ceremony was held on Sunday, 11 March 2007, at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica.^[16] It featured over 2,000 dancers and performers representing all strands of West Indian music, from calypso and ragga to reggae and soca. Among the performers were 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.

The ceremony, attended by several heads of state including the Governor-General of Jamaica, started with an address by Sir Garfield Sobers and included messages from the prime ministers of Jamaica and Grenada.

Rules and regulations

Matches

The matches were One Day Internationals and operated under normal ODI rules. All matches were to be 50 overs a side unless stated otherwise by the umpires or match referee. A bowler was able to bowl a maximum of 10 overs per match.

In the event of bad weather, each side must have batted a minimum of 20 overs for a result to be declared (if the match was not otherwise won, for example if the team batting second were dismissed before the completion of 20 overs). In the event of bad weather, the Duckworth-Lewis method was to be applied to determine the result or target. If no result was declared on the scheduled day, the teams would return the following day to complete the game, with the same situation as when the game was abandoned.

There was a new rule regarding referral of catches to the TV replay official (third umpire): if the standing umpires were unable to determine whether a catch had been taken cleanly, and/or whether a claimed catch was a "bump ball", they had discretion to refer the decision to the third umpire. Also, whilst reviewing such a catch via TV replay if it was clear to the third umpire that the batsman did not hit the ball, he was to indicate that the batsman was not out.^[17]

Tournament points

In the Group and Super 8 stages, points were awarded as follows:

The top two teams from each group advanced to the Super 8 stage and any points they earned against the other qualifier from their own group was carried through. Points earned against the non-qualifying teams in the same pool were not carried over. In the Super 8s, each team played the six remaining qualifiers from the other groups and the top four teams went through to the semi-finals. Positions were decided by most points. Where two or more teams were tied on points, the following methods in turn were used to decide which team went through:^[17]

1. Most wins in their group or in Super 8, whichever is applicable


2. Higher net run rate
   


3. Higher number of wickets taken per ball


4. Winners of head to head matches


5. The drawing of lots

Umpires

The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprised nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included was Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel consisted of seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as the West Indies's team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who appeared in his fifth final in a row, extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.

Groups

Seeds

The tournament began with a league stage consisting of four groups of four. Each team played each of the other teams in its group once. Australia, India, England, and the West Indies were placed in separate pools for logistical reasons, as they were expected to have the most supporters in attendance, and transport and accommodation capacity in the West Indies was limited.^[18]

The groups are listed below, with seedings (rankings from April 2005) shown in brackets. Each group played all of its matches at a single ground.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Australia	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Pakistan
South Africa	India	England	West Indies
Scotland	Bangladesh	Kenya	Zimbabwe
Netherlands	Bermuda	Canada	Ireland

System

The tournament was preceded by a number of warm-up matches to acclimate the players. The group stage matches started on Tuesday 13 March and finished on Sunday 25 March. There were a total of 24 matches played in the group stage.

The top two teams in each group proceeded to the "Super 8" stage which also used a league system. Each team carried forward its result against the other team qualifying from its preliminary stage group, and played the other six qualifying teams once each. The top four teams in the league qualified for the semi-finals. This system was modified since the previous World Cup, which had a "Super 6" stage rather than a Super 8. The Super 8 stage matches were played from Tuesday 27 March until Saturday 21 April. A total of 24 matches were played in the Super 8 stage.

The top four teams in the "Super 8" advanced to the semi-finals. This was the knockout stage, with the No. 1 team playing the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team playing the No. 3 team in the tournament. The winners of the two semi-finals played each other in the Final.

All tournament matches had one reserve day (the day after the scheduled day of the match) to allow for matches to be completed in the event of bad weather.

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	T	L	NR	NRR	Pts
Australia	3	3	0	0	0	+3.433	6
South Africa	3	2	0	1	0	+2.403	4
Netherlands	3	1	0	2	0	−2.527	2
Scotland	3	0	0	3	0	−3.793	0

14 March 2007 Scorecard

Australia  334/6 (50 overs)

v

Scotland 131 (40.1 overs)

Australia won by 203 runs Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

16 March 2007 Scorecard

South Africa  353/3 (40 overs)

v

Netherlands 132/9 (40 overs)

South Africa won by 221 runs Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

18 March 2007 Scorecard

Australia  358/5 (50 overs)

v

Netherlands 129 (26.5 overs)

Australia won by 229 runs Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

20 March 2007 Scorecard

Scotland  186/8 (50 overs)

v

South Africa 188/3 (23.2 overs)

South Africa won by 7 wickets Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

22 March 2007 Scorecard

Scotland  136 (34.1 overs)

v

Netherlands 140/2 (23.5 overs)

Netherlands won by 8 wickets Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

24 March 2007 Scorecard

Australia  377/6 (50 overs)

v

South Africa 294 (48 overs)

Australia won by 83 runs Warner Park Stadium, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

Group B

Team	Pld	W	T	L	NR	NRR	Pts
Sri Lanka	3	3	0	0	0	+3.493	6
Bangladesh	3	2	0	1	0	−1.523	4
India	3	1	0	2	0	+1.206	2
Bermuda	3	0	0	3	0	−4.345	0

15 March 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  321/6 (50 overs)

v

Bermuda 78 (24.4 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 243 runs Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

17 March 2007 Scorecard

India  191 (49.3 overs)

v

Bangladesh 192/5 (48.3 overs)

Bangladesh won by 5 wickets Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

19 March 2007 Scorecard

India  413/5 (50 overs)

v

Bermuda 156 (43.1 overs)

India won by 257 runs Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

21 March 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  318/4 (50 overs)

v

Bangladesh 112 (37 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 198 runs (D/L) Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

23 March 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  254/6 (50 overs)

v

India 185 (43.3 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 69 runs Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

25 March 2007 Scorecard

Bermuda  94/9 (21 overs)

v

Bangladesh 96/3 (17.3 overs)

Bangladesh won by 7 wickets (D/L) Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Group C

Team	Pld	W	T	L	NR	NRR	Pts
New Zealand	3	3	0	0	0	+2.138	6
England	3	2	0	1	0	+0.418	4
Kenya	3	1	0	2	0	−1.194	2
Canada	3	0	0	3	0	−1.389	0

14 March 2007 Scorecard

Canada  199 (50 overs)

v

Kenya 203/3 (43.2 overs)

Kenya won by 7 wickets Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

16 March 2007 Scorecard

England  209/7 (50 overs)

v

New Zealand 210/4 (41 overs)

New Zealand won by 6 wickets Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

18 March 2007 Scorecard

England  279/6 (50 overs)

v

Canada 228/7 (50 overs)

England won by 51 runs Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

20 March 2007 Scorecard

New Zealand  331/7 (50 overs)

v

Kenya 183 (49.2 overs)

New Zealand won by 148 runs Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

22 March 2007 Scorecard

New Zealand  363/5 (50 overs)

v

Canada 249/9 (49.2 overs)

New Zealand won by 114 runs Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

24 March 2007 Scorecard

Kenya  177 (43 overs)

v

England 178/3 (33 overs)

England won by 7 wickets Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

Group D

Team	Pld	W	T	L	NR	NRR	Pts
West Indies	3	3	0	0	0	+0.764	6
Ireland	3	1	1	1	0	−0.092	3
Pakistan	3	1	0	2	0	+0.089	2
Zimbabwe	3	0	1	2	0	−0.886	1

13 March 2007 Scorecard

West Indies  241/9 (50 overs)

v

Pakistan 187 (47.2 overs)

West Indies won by 54 runs Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

15 March 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  221/9 (50 overs)

v

Zimbabwe 221 (50 overs)

Match tied Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

17 March 2007 Scorecard

Pakistan  132 (45.4 overs)

v

Ireland 133/7 (41.4 overs)

Ireland won by 3 wickets (D/L) Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

19 March 2007 Scorecard

Zimbabwe  202/5 (50 overs)

v

West Indies 204/4 (47.5 overs)

West Indies won by 6 wickets Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

21 March 2007 Scorecard

Pakistan  349 (49.5 overs)

v

Zimbabwe 99 (19.1 overs)

Pakistan won by 93 runs (D/L) Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

23 March 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  183/8 (48 overs)

v

West Indies 190/2 (38.1 overs)

West Indies won by 8 wickets (D/L) Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

Super 8 stage

The top two teams in each first-round group moved on to a "Super 8" stage which was scored as a complete round-robin. However, each of the eight teams played only six new matches, rather than seven—each group's two representatives carried forward their result against each other rather than play again. Thus the table below, showing seven matches for each team, covers all matches between the Super 8 qualifiers, including those from the Group Stage.

Teams depicted in green backgrounds qualified for the semi-finals.

Team	Pld	W	T	L	NR	NRR	Pts
Australia	7	7	0	0	0	+2.400	14
Sri Lanka	7	5	0	2	0	+1.483	10
New Zealand	7	5	0	2	0	+0.253	10
South Africa	7	4	0	3	0	+0.313	8
England	7	3	0	4	0	−0.394	6
West Indies	7	2	0	5	0	−0.566	4
Bangladesh	7	1	0	6	0	−1.514	2
Ireland	7	1	0	6	0	−1.730	2

27 March 2007 Scorecard

Australia  322/6 (50 overs)

v

West Indies 219 (45.3 overs)

Australia won by 103 runs Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

28 March 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  209 (49.3 overs)

v

South Africa 212/9 (48.2 overs)

South Africa won by 1 wicket Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

29 March 2007 Scorecard

West Indies  177 (44.4 overs)

v

New Zealand 179/3 (39.2 overs)

New Zealand won by 7 wickets Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

30 March 2007 Scorecard

England  266/7 (50 overs)

v

Ireland 218 (48.1 overs)

England won by 48 runs Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

31 March 2007 Scorecard

Bangladesh  104/6 (22 overs)

v

Australia 106/0 (13.5 overs)

Australia won by 10 wickets Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

1 April 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  303/5 (50 overs)

v

West Indies 190 (44.3 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 113 runs Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

2 April 2007 Scorecard

Bangladesh  174 (48.3 overs)

v

New Zealand 178/1 (29.2 overs)

New Zealand won by 9 wickets Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

3 April 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  152/8 (35 overs)

v

South Africa 165/3 (31.3 overs)

South Africa won by 7 wickets (DL) Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

4 April 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  235 (50 overs)

v

England 233/8 (50 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 2 runs Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

7 April 2007 Scorecard

Bangladesh  251/8 (50 overs)

v

South Africa 184 (48.4 overs)

Bangladesh won by 67 runs Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

8 April 2007 Scorecard

England  247 (49.5 overs)

v

Australia 248/3 (47.2 overs)

Australia won by 7 wickets Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

9 April 2007 Scorecard

New Zealand  263/8 (50 overs)

v

Ireland 134 (37.4 overs)

New Zealand won by 129 runs Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana

10 April 2007 Scorecard

South Africa  356/4 (50 overs)

v

West Indies 289/9 (50 overs)

South Africa won by 67 runs Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

11 April 2007 Scorecard

Bangladesh  143 (37.2 overs)

v

England 147/6 (44.5 overs)

England won by 4 wickets Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

12 April 2007 Scorecard

New Zealand  219/7 (50 overs)

v

Sri Lanka 222/4 (45.1 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

13 April 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  91 (30 overs)

v

Australia 92/1 (12.2 overs)

Australia won by 9 wickets Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

14 April 2007 Scorecard

South Africa  193/7 (50 overs)

v

New Zealand 196/5 (48.2 overs)

New Zealand won by 5 wickets Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

15 April 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  243/7 (50 overs)

v

Bangladesh 169 (41.2 overs)

Ireland won by 74 runs Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

16 April 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  226 (49.4 overs)

v

Australia 232/3 (42.4 overs)

Australia won by 7 wickets Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

17 April 2007 Scorecard

England  154 (48 overs)

v

South Africa 157/1 (19.2 overs)

South Africa won by 9 wickets Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

18 April 2007 Scorecard

Ireland  77 (27.4 overs)

v

Sri Lanka 81/2 (10 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

19 April 2007 Scorecard

West Indies  230/5 (50 overs)

v

Bangladesh 131 (43.5 overs)

West Indies won by 99 runs Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

20 April 2007 Scorecard

Australia  348/6 (50 overs)

v

New Zealand 133 (25.5 overs)

Australia won by 215 runs Queen's Park, St George's, Grenada

21 April 2007 Scorecard

West Indies  300 (49.5 overs)

v

England 301/9 (49.5 overs)

England won by 1 wicket Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	24 April – Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica
	2  Sri Lanka	289/5
					28 April – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
	3  New Zealand	208
					Sri Lanka	215/8
	25 April – Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
					Australia	281/4
	1  Australia	153/3
	4  South Africa	149

Semi-finals

24 April 2007 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  289/5 (50 overs)

v

New Zealand 208 (41.4 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 81 runs Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

25 April 2007 Scorecard

South Africa  149 (43.5 overs)

v

Australia 153/3 (31.3 overs)

Australia won by 7 wickets Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

Final

28 April 2007 Scorecard

Australia  281/4 (38 overs)

v

Sri Lanka 215/8 (36 overs)

Australia won by 53 runs (D/L) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

Final of 2007 Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and Australia

This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat: the sides previously met in the 1996 World Cup final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia had won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss.^[19] The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance, and Australia's fourth in a row and sixth overall.
Australian captain 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. Wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist 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.^[20]

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

While Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka's chances slowly diminished.^[20] 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, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting; Ponting agreed to play only spin bowlers. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added just nine runs to give Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method.^[21] The umpires later apologised for their error, saying that the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs.^[22]

Australian captain Ricky Ponting

Australia won the tournament undefeated, extending their streak of World Cup matches without a loss to 29.^[23] Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named 'Player of the Series'.^[24]

Controversies

Death of Bob Woolmer

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.^[25] The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation.^[26] Further investigation revealed the cause of death was "manual strangulation",^[27] and that the investigation would be handled as a murder.^[28] After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was murdered, and confirmed that he died from natural causes.^[29]

Criticism

The 2007 World Cup organisers were criticised early on for being over-commercialised 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,^[30] as well as the authorities being accused of "running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitising it out of existence".^[31]Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns.^[32] The ICC were also condemned for high prices of tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations.^[33] ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognised the problem but said it was the local organisers' fault.^[34] However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organisers easing restrictions.^[35] Although it did not meet the target of US$42 million, the US$32 million revenue from ticket sales was the highest of any Cricket World Cup and double that of the previous World Cup.^[12][13][36]

The World Cup was also criticised by the BCCI for its format because India failed to move on from the group stage after losing two of their three matches. The BCCI later claimed it would see to it that the ICC alter its format for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.^[37] The elimination of both 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.

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.^[38] 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.^[39] The majority of the experts and players participating in the tournament backed up the smaller teams taking part in the World Cup.^[40] This was further backed up with Ireland and Bangladesh making the Super 8s and being competitive and sportsmanlike throughout the tournament.^[41]

Further criticism was generated by the confusion at the end of the final match: the umpires announced that play was suspended due to bad light, which caused the Australian team to erupt in celebration as the scoreboard and official announcements declared Australia the winners. However, the umpires incorrectly insisted that the game was only suspended and not completed, and that 3 overs remained to be played, so in farcical light conditions, Sri Lanka batted out the remaining 3 overs following a gentleman's agreement between the two captains.^[42] The umpires and the ICC apologised for the unnecessary situation and cited it as an unnecessary fundamental error due to the pressure of the situation.^[43] 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.^[44]

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.^[45] At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns.^[46] At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm-up matches due to accreditation problems.^[47] Additionally, South Africa and Australia both expressed concerns over practice facilities.^[48]

See also

• West Indies Cricket Board


• CARICOM Visa and Freedom of Travel during Cricket World Cup


• 2007 Cricket World Cup venues

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2007 Cricket World Cup.

• 2007 Cricket World Cup website


• ICC Overview of 2007 World Cup


• ICC website – Cricket World Cup page


• Cricinfo – Cricket World Cup 2007


• 2007 Cricket World Cup Australia's Winning ODI Kit