With the Cricket World Cup under way in down under, the cricket fever coupled with the excitement is all around us. Here are some mind-blowing facts about the Cricket World Cup from its inception in 1975 until now.
1. Only six players have scored a century in the Cricket World cup finals.
In the inaugural cricket world cup final in 1975 Clive Lloyd from the West Indian team scored 102 runs becoming the 1st player to score a century in a world cup final. 1979 Vivian Richards also from the West Indies team scored 138 runs in the world cup final. 1996 Aravinda de Silva scored 107 runs in the finals paving way to Sri Lanka’s victory in the tournament Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist scored 140 runs and 149 runs respectively paving way for Australia’s win in 2003 and 2007.
Finally in 2011 Mahela Jayawardane scored 103 runs and surprisingly this was the first time in the world cup history that after scoring a century still the team lost.
2. Clive Lloyd and Ricky Ponting are the only two captains to win the world cup trophy twice consecutively.
After winning the world cup in 1975 Clive Lloyd successfully captained the West Indian team for the second time in a world cup final and won the title again in 1979. Ricky Ponting captained the Australian team during their 2003 and 2007 world cup wins.
3. The father son duo who played for rival teams
Father Donald Pringle was a member of the East African team in the 1975 world cup while son Derek Pringle played for England in the world cup matches of 1987 and 1992.
4. A retired captain returns to the field only to score their first world cup win.
As per the request of then Pakistani president general Zia-Ul-Haq, Imran Khan returned to international cricket again after announcing his retirement in 1987. This comeback resulted in Pakistan’s first ever World Cup win in 1992 due to his inspirational captaincy.
5. The cricketers who played in six cricket world cups.
Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad and Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar are the only two cricketers to play in six World Cup tournaments. Miandad started his World cup career in 1975 as an 18 year old and played in the World Cup tournaments of 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992 and 1996. He scored 1083 runs in 33 World Cup matches.
Sachin started his World Cup career in 1992 at age 19 and played in the World Cup tournaments of 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. He has scored 2278 run in 45 matches thus scoring the most runs scored by a batsman in his World Cup career.
6. Cricket experiences 100mph speed record for the first time
In the 2003 World Cup, Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar bowled against England’s Nick Knight cricket’s first ever recorded 100mph delivery.
7. Three Siblings playing in the same team
The three brothers Dayle Hadlee, Richard Hadlee and Barry Hadlee all played on behalf of the New Zealand cricket team in the inaugural World Cup tournament held in England in 1975.
