World Cup - the Number Game.

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Hello Friends,

It's a World Cup euphoria every where among cricketing fans and every one is busy in predicting their favorite teams to Win the World Cup 2011. I thought, it will be helpful for you, if you just go through what happened in the past 9 World Cups; and therefore in this article, i am presenting important achievements and statistics related to past World Cups. 

World Cup tournament is the most important cricketing event and it is world's 4th largest and most viewed sporting event. The teams and players who have performed their best in this prestigious tournament are really special ones. Team like Australia who have won the Championship four times, which is an incredible  achievement. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Pointing have consistently played their best cricket in this tournament which makes them greatest players of the game.

The table below provided an overview of the performances of teams over last 9 World Cups.

Team	Current ICC ODI Ranking	Appearances			Best result	Statistics
		Total	First	Latest		Played	Won	Lost	% Won
Australia	1	9	1975	2007	Champions (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007)	69	51	17	73.91
West Indies	9	9	1975	2007	Champions (1975, 1979)	57	35	21	61.40
India	2	9	1975	2007	Champions (1983)	58	32	25	55.17
Pakistan	6	9	1975	2007	Champions (1992)	56	30	24	53.57
Sri Lanka	3	9	1975	2007	Champions (1996)	57	25	30	43.86
England	5	9	1975	2007	Runners-up (1979, 1987, 1992)	59	36	22	61.02
New Zealand	7	9	1975	2007	Semifinals (1975, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007)	62	35	26	56.45
South Africa	4	5	1992	2007	Semifinals (1992, 1999, 2007)	40	26	12	65.00
Kenya	13	4	1996	2007	Semifinals (2003)	23	6	16	26.09
Zimbabwe	11	7	1983	2007	Super Six (1999, 2003)	45	8	33	17.78
Bangladesh	8	3	1999	2007	Super 8 (2007)	20	5	14	25.00
Ireland	10	1	2007	2007	Super 8 (2007)	9	2	6	22.22
Canada	-	3	1979	2007	Round 1	12	1	11	8.33
Netherlands	12	3	1996	2007	Round 1	14	2	12	14.29
Scotland	-	2	1999	2007	Round 1	8	0	8	0.00
Bermuda	-	1	2007	2007	Round 1	3	0	3	0.00
Namibia	-	1	2003	2003	Round 1	6	0	6	0.00
UAE	-	1	1996	1996	Round 1	5	1	4	20.00
East Africa	-	1	1975	1975	Round 1	3	0	3	0.00

The table below provided showing Batting, Bowling, Fielding and Team records in the World Cups.

World Cup records
Batting
Most runs	Sachin Tendulkar	India	1796 (1992–2007)
Highest average (min. 20 inns.)	Viv Richards	West Indies	63.31 (1975–1987)
Highest score	Gary Kirsten v UAE	South Africa	188* (1996)
Highest partnership	Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly (2nd wicket) v Sri Lanka	India	318 (1999)
Most runs in a tournament	Sachin Tendulkar		673 (2003)
Bowling
Most wickets	Glenn McGrath	Australia	71 (1996–2007)
Lowest average (min. 1000 balls bowled)	Glenn McGrath	Australia	19.21 (1996–2007)
Best bowling figures	Glenn McGrath v Namibia	Australia	7/15 (2003)
Most wickets in a tournament	Glenn McGrath	Australia	26 (2007)
Fielding
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Adam Gilchrist	Australia	39 (1999–2007)
Most catches (fielder)	Ricky Ponting	Australia	24 (1996–2007)
Team
Highest score	India v Bermuda		413/5 (2007)
Lowest score	Canada v Sri Lanka		36 (2003)
Highest win %	Australia		74% (Played 69, Won 51)
Most consecutive wins	Australia		23 (1999–2007)
Most consecutive tournament wins	Australia		3 (1999–2007) [59]

Since 1992, World Cup one player has been declared as 'Man of the series' at the end of World Cup finals.
These are the World Cup heroes who have bagged Man of the series award in the respective World Cups:

Man of the Series
World Cup Year	Player	Country	Performance details
1992	Martin Crowe	New Zealand	456 runs
1996	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	221 runs and 7 wickets
1999	Lance Klusener	South Africa	281 runs and 17 wickets
2003	Sachin Tendulkar	India	673 runs and 2 wickets
2007	Glenn McGrath	Australia	26 wickets

-Aashish