The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth
Cricket World Cup
The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...
, organised by the
International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by
South Africa,
Zimbabwe and
Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the first to be played in Africa.
The tournament featured 14 teams, the largest number in the World Cup's history at the time, playing a total of 54 matches. It followed the format introduced in the
1999 Cricket World Cup
The 1999 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup '99) was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with Scotland, Ireland, Wales ...
, with the teams divided into two groups, and the top three in each group qualifying for the Super Sixes stage.
The tournament saw numerous upsets, with
South Africa,
Pakistan,
West Indies and
England all being eliminated at the group stage (South Africa missed by 1 run after misreading the
Duckworth-Lewis method rules). England forfeited their match with
Zimbabwe, due to the political unrest in the country, which ultimately enabled that team to reach the Super Sixes. Similarly,
New Zealand forfeited their match with
Kenya, due to security reasons which enabled the latter to reach the semi-finals, the only non-
Test playing nation to do so. Another shock wave came two days after the tournament had started, when
Shane Warne, at the time one of the game's leading spinners, was sent home in disgrace after testing positive for a banned substance.
The tournament was eventually won by Australia who won all 11 of their matches, beating India in the
final played at the
Wanderers Stadium in
Johannesburg. This was Australia's third World Cup win, the only team to do so. Pakistani player
Shoaib Akhtar also set a world record, becoming the
fastest bowler in the history of cricket, delivering a record top speed of 161.3km/h (100.23 mph) in a pool match against England.
Teams and squads
Fourteen teams played in the 2003 World Cup, the largest number of teams to play in a Cricket World Cup at the time. The 10
Test playing nations automatically qualified for the tournament including the recently appointed member
Bangladesh, while
Kenya also qualified automatically due to their full
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
status. The other three spots were filled by the top three teams in the
2001 ICC Trophy
The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Canada ...
in Canada, which served as a qualifying tournament. These teams were, respectively, the
Netherlands who won the ICC Trophy,
Canada and
Namibia. This was Namibia's World Cup debut, while the Netherlands and Canada were both appearing in the tournament for the second time, having previously appeared in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
and
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
respectively.
The format used in the 1999 World Cup was retained, with the 14 teams divided into two groups of seven, and the top three from each group qualifying for the Super Sixes stage, carrying forward the results they had achieved against other qualifiers from their group. The top four teams in the Super Sixes qualified for the semi-finals, and the winners of those matches contested the final.
Host cities and venues
Group stage
The top three teams from each pool qualify for the next stage, carrying forward the points already scored against fellow qualifiers, plus a quarter of the points scored against the teams that failed to qualify.
Pool A
Source
Points Table
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Pool B
Source
Points Table
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Super Sixes
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
India,
Zimbabwe,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
,
Kenya, and
New Zealand advanced to the Super Sixes stage.
Teams who qualified for the Super Six stage only played against the teams from the other group; results against the other teams from the same group were carried forward to this stage.
Teams that advanced to the semi-finals are highlighted in green.
Source
Points Table
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Semi finals
Bracket
Semi-final 1: Australia vs Sri Lanka
On a difficult, slow pitch at Port Elizabeth, Australia struggled their way to 212 (7 wickets, 50 overs) against tight Sri Lankan bowling, thanks mainly to a great innings from
Andrew Symonds (91
* from 118 balls, 7 fours, 1 six), demonstrating again captain
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...
's faith in him.
Chaminda Vaas, continuing his excellent tournament, took three wickets. Australia's pace attack then ripped through the Sri Lankan top order, with
Brett Lee (3/35 in 8 overs) taking three early wickets and
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer who played international cricket for 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler (cricket), bowler and is considered one of the greatest international ...
(1/20 in 7 overs) taking one. By the time rain arrived in the 39th over, continued tight bowling had squeezed Sri Lanka to 123 (7 wickets, 38.1 overs), well behind the target given by the
Duckworth–Lewis method. This is the match in which
Adam Gilchrist famously "walked" despite being given not out.
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Semi-final 2: India vs Kenya
The fairytale ended for the Kenyan team, the only non-Test-playing nation to ever make a World Cup semi-final.
Sachin Tendulkar (83 from 101 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) and
Sourav Ganguly (111 from 114 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes), batted the Kenyans out of the game as India careered to a total of 270 (4 wickets, 50 overs). Under the Durban lights, the potent Indian seam attack of
Zaheer Khan (3/14 in 9.2 overs), the experienced
Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inter ...
(1/11 in 7 overs) and
Ashish Nehra (2/11 in 5 overs) careered through the Kenyan top order. Kenya were bowled out for 179 (all out, 46.2 overs), with only
Steve Tikolo
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
(56 from 83 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes) putting up any significant resistance.
Final
India won the toss, and Ganguly, elected to field, hoping to take advantage of a pitch left damp by dew and rain. On a lively
Wanderers Stadium pitch, the Australian openers took advantage of very wayward Indian opening bowlers to get off to a flying start.
Adam Gilchrist (57 from 48 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) and
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed batting order (cricket)#opening batsman, opening batsm ...
(37 from 54 balls, 5 fours) shared an opening partnership of 105 runs in 14 overs, forcing Ganguly to bring on the spinners unusually early. The change of pace brought wickets with
Adam Gilchrist, who had been swinging at everything, holing out off a sweep shot from the bowling of
Harbhajan Singh.
Matthew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed batting order (cricket)#opening batsman, opening batsm ...
, looking somewhat better than he had throughout the tournament, soon followed for 37, leaving Australia at 2/125 Captain
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...
(140 from 121 balls, 4 fours, 8 sixes) and
Damien Martyn (88 from 84 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) (playing with a broken thumb) completing a partnership of 234 runs in 30.1 overs, an Australian record for one-day cricket. Ponting and Martyn started efficiently, putting away bad balls but mostly keeping the scoring going with good running, then letting loose in the last ten overs, taking 109 from them. Ponting in particular dispatched the bowling over the fence with fearsome regularity in scoring 8 sixes, the most from one batsman in any World Cup match at the time. The final Australian total of 359 (2 wickets, 50 overs), at a run rate of 7.18 runs an over, was their then highest ever in ODI history.
India's run chase was made even more difficult after their trump card, Sachin Tendulkar, was out in the first over after skying a pull shot, Glenn McGrath completing the caught and bowled. Nevertheless, Virender Sehwag's (82 from 81 balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes) run-a-ball half century gave India respectability as they maintained a high scoring rate. Their only realistic hope—a washout—looked a possibility as the game was interrupted by rain with India at 3/103 after 17 overs. However, this rain passed by, and India's hopes were dashed when Sehwag was run out by Darren Lehmann, and again when Rahul Dravid (47 from 57 balls, 2 fours) was bowled by Andy Bichel, ending their partnership of 88 runs in 13.2 overs. India's batsmen continued to throw wickets away in the chase as the run rate crept up past 7 an over, and they were finally bowled out for 234 (all out, 39.2 overs) at a run rate of 5.97 runs an over giving Australia an emphatic victory by a record margin (in World Cup finals thus far) of 125 runs, underlining their dominance of the tournament. Ponting was named "Man of the Match", and Sachin Tendulkar was named "Player of the Series."
Controversies
Security issues in Zimbabwe and Kenya
The security and political situation in
Zimbabwe, and the appropriateness of playing there given the misdeeds of the regime of
Robert Mugabe was a point of concern before the tournament. Two Zimbabwean players,
Andy Flower and
Henry Olonga wore
black armbands in their opening game protesting against the nondemocratic rule in
Zimbabwe. Both men subsequently retired from Zimbabwean cricket, and began playing overseas. England faced a great deal of domestic pressure to boycott their match in Zimbabwe on political grounds and did not play, citing fears for the players' safety.
The boycott proved costly, as Zimbabwe advanced to the Super Sixes, just 2 points ahead of England, from the 4 points they achieved from the walkover. Similarly, New Zealand decided against playing in
Kenya because of security fears which would ultimately cost New Zealand a semifinal spot.
Shane Warne's drug test
Australian star player
Shane Warne was sent home from the cup in embarrassing circumstances, only the day before their opening game, after a positive
drug test in a lead-up competition in Australia revealed that he had taken a banned
diuretic. The
leg spinner claimed that he had taken a 'fluid pill' on the advice of his mother.
References
External links
Cricket World Cup 2003at BBC Sport
at ESPN Cricinfo
Cricket World Cup 2003at Guardian.co.uk Sport
{{International cricket tours of Kenya
World Cup
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Cricket World Cup tournaments
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Cricket World Cup
The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...
Cricket World Cup
The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...