Yippee! It’s that time of the “every-four-years” again! The Cricket World Cup is almost upon us and this time it’s happening in New Zealand! (I’m admittedly not particularly clued in to our (or anybody else’s!) cricketing history, but given half a chance, I’ll be the first to paint my face and cheer for India. (I hope that counts for something :D.) In fact, 4 years ago, when India won the World Cup for the second time, I had a viewing party for the finals with tri-colored shots and everything, see?!
But enthusiasm aside, since I know I’m not alone in my ignorance, I thought it might be worthwhile to create a “cheat sheet” of sorts by asking some cricket fans friends, Chetan Kapoor, Vikram Sathaye, Ashwin Mushran, Vishal Bala and Khurram Imdad, “what are the things everyone should really know about the Cricket World Cup before they watch this one, and um… can you tell me again, what’s happened so far? *cheesy grin*” Here’s what they said! 🙂
1. Cricket is played with 11 players in each side.
2. There are 14 teams in the World Cup fighting for the title which India won the last time.
3. The ultimate objective of the game is to score runs which happens when you hit the ball with the bat, and take wickets which you do to disallow the opposition team from scoring runs.
4. This is the 11th Cricket World Cup.
5. India has reached the final thrice (1983, 2003 and 2011).
6. India has won it twice (1983 and 2011).
7. India has never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match.
8. India has never beaten New Zealand in a World Cup.
9. Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run getter in World Cup history.
10. Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record for highest number of centuries in world cup (6).
11. This is the first World Cup India will have to play Pakistan without having Sachin Tendulkar in the team. (Eeps!)
12. India and England are the only teams to have hosted the World Cup 3 or more times.
13. England has hosted the most number of World Cups (4, 1975-1983 and 1999)
14. The MCG, with a capacity of over 100,000 is the largest cricket ground in the world.
15. Australia are the only team to have won the cup thrice consecutively (1999-2007).
16. Glenn Mcgrath is the highest wicket taker in any World Cup (72), he’s Australian.
17. Sachin Tendulkar and Javed Miandad of Pakistan have appeared in 6 world cups (Sachin 1992-2011 and Miandad 1975-1996) the most by any player!
18. When India won the world Cup in 1983, it was called the prudential world cup. In 1999, the trophy was damaged when the Shiv Sena vandalised the Indian cricket board’s headquarters.
19. At the first four World Cups, all players wore the traditional white uniform and red balls were used.
20. The only rule that has not changed since the first cricketing laws were formed is the size of the pitch. It has stayed at 22 yards.
21. At the World Cup in 1996, Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka due to security concerns, causing both matches to be awarded to Sri Lanka by default. Also, Sri Lanka were awarded a victory for their semi-final by default against India because of crowd riots. This aided their campaign which eventually led to them winning the final.
22. The only man to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup Cricket is Viv Richards – Antigua at football and West Indies at cricket. There is another joining him in this unique double, Australian Ellyse Perry has appeared in both cricket (2009) and football World Cups (2011).
Cool eh? If there’s something else you think us cricket newbies should know, please leave me a comment below! xoxo