More than 200 of the world’s best cricketers will do battle for the ICC Cricket World Cup from 14 February next month. Now that the 14 teams have finally been revealed, here is a look at the squads by the numbers:
210 – The total number of players who will take part in the tournament.
43 – The age of the oldest player named, United Arab Emirates vice-captain Khurram Khan. The 43-year-old was born on June 21, 1971, edging out the tournament’s second oldest player, his teammate and captain Mohammad Tauqir, who turns 43 on January 14.
18 – The age of the youngest player named, Afghanistan’s 18-year-old Usman Ghani, who was born on November 20, 1996. The youngest person to ever play in a World Cup was Canada’s Nitish Kumar, who was 16 during the 2011 tournament.
33 – The most experienced World Cup player set to play in this year’s tournament is Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, who has played 33 matches across the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 tournaments
5 – The number of 2015 players who have previously tasted World Cup glory: India’s MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina (all part of the 2011 winning XI) and Australia’s Michael Clarke and Shane Watson (part of the 2007 winning XI). Ravichandran Ashwin was in India’s 2011 squad, and Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin were part of Australia’s 2007 squad, but the trio did not play in their country’s winning finals – ensuring they will be hungrier than ever for success in 2015.
991 – Kumar Sangakkara has scored 991 World Cup runs for Sri Lanka in 30 matches across the 2003, 2007 and 2011 tournaments, making him the highest run-scorer heading into the 2015 event.
83.63 – Australia skipper Michael Clarke’s average in World Cup matches. In 15 innings, Clarke has scored 669 runs and has a strike rate of 93.57. It’s the highest average of any 2015 player, and the third highest of all time. The next highest current player on the list is Clarke’s teammate Shane Watson, who has averaged 62.14 in his 12 Cup innings.
31 – Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga has snared 31 wickets in his 15 World Cup matches, including his best numbers of 6-38. He enters the 2015 event with the most World Cup wickets of any current player.
17.87 – Malinga also has the lowest World Cup average out of all of the bowlers named for the 2015 tournament. He is fourth on the all-time lowest averages list.
46 – Sangakkara also enters the 2015 World Cup with the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper, having taken 36 catches and executed 10 stumpings. He only needs seven more dismissals to leap ahead of Adam Gilchrist on the all-time World Cup ‘keeper list.
2 – The number of players who have played for more than one country at the Cricket World Cup, who are playing at #cwc15. Both have played for Ireland and England, with Ed Joyce representing England in 2007 and Ireland in 2011 & now 2015, whilst Eoin Morgan has conversely represented Ireland in 2007, but was playing for England four years later in 2011 and will captain England’s Squad in 2015.
14 – The number of teams competing for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, including first-timers Afghanistan.
49 – The number of matches to be played between February 14 and the final on March 29.
23 – the number of years since Australia and New Zealand last hosted the ICC Cricket World Cu
14 – The number of host cities across Australia and New Zealand.
1 – One champion will be crowned on 29 March 2015 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
