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2019 World Cup: Cricketers for whom this is the last World Cup (part two)

The ten-team tournament, which starts May 30, will see several cricketers play their last World Cup.

2019 World Cup: Cricketers for whom this is the last World Cup

CWC 2019: Mohammad Hafeez, Dale Steyn, Ross Taylor, Angelo Mathews, Shoaib Malik.

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The ten-team 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, which starts on May 30, will see several cricket players play their final World Cup.

In part two of our ODI World Cup farewell features, here are five cricketers for whom this will be the last tournament. (For part one, click HERE)

Mohammad Hafeez

ODI record: M 208 Runs 6302 HS 140* Avg 32.99 SR 76.01 100 11 50 36 Wkts 137 BB 4/41

World Cup record: M 10 Runs 230 HS 61* Avg 25.55 SR 76.92 50 1 Wkts 11 BB 2/16

Hafeez, 38, is Pakistan’s tenth most successful batsman in ODIs. Despite having played 208 ODIs, he has only featured in two World Cups – in 2007 and 2011.

He recently came back from surgery and passed the mandatory yo-yo fitness test to be named in Pakistan’s World Cup squad.

Dale Steyn

ODI record: M 124 Overs 1042.4 Runs 5087 Wkts 196 BB 6/39 Avg 25.95 Econ 4.98 SR 31.9

World Cup record: M 14 Overs 115 Runs 538 Wkts 23 BB 5/50 Avg 23.39 Econ 4.67 SR 30

Steyn, who will turn 36 in June, has been targeting the World Cup as one last shot at winning the trophy that has eluded South Africa since they made their tournament debut in 1992.

Since he made his ODI debut in 2005, the fast bowler has played in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, both of which ended in heart break. Steyn is South Africa’s fifth most successful bowler after Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini.

Ross Taylor

ODI record: M 218 Runs 8026 HS 181* Avg 48.34 SR 83.37 100 20 50 47

World Cup record: M 23 Runs 652 HS 131* Avg 36.22 SR 73.34 100 1 50 3

At 35, this will be Taylor’s final World Cup. Since he made his debut in 2006, he has scored 8,026 runs at an average of 48.34. In February, Taylor surpassed Stephen Fleming’s mark of 8,007 to become New Zealand’s leading run-getter in ODIs.

His 20 hundreds are also a New Zealand record.

In March, Taylor was named New Zealand Cricket’s men’s ODI player of the year after he scored 759 ODI runs at an average of 84 during the voting period.

At World Cups, Taylor’s scintillating 131 not out at Pallekele in 2011 left Pakistan struggling to make the quarter-finals.

Angelo Mathews

ODI record: M 203 Runs 5380 HS 139* Avg 42.36 SR 83.39 100 2 50 37 Wkts 114 BB 6/20

World Cup record: M 15 Runs 289 HS 51 Avg 36.12 SR 94.13 50 1 Wkts 12 BB 3/41

Mathews is 31, but a history of injuries makes the 2019 World Cup his likely swan song. He may be around in 2023, but whether Mathews will be World Cup-ready is debatable.

The former Sri Lanka captain was forced out of the New Zealand tour in January with a grade two strain in his left hamstring and subsequently missed two Tests in Australia and the entire tour of South Africa. Mathews was recalled to Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad after he topped the Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament run-chart with 227 from four innings to prove his fitness.

Sri Lanka’s ninth most successful ODI batsman, he played in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.

Shoaib Malik

ODI record: M 282 Runs 7481 HS 143 Avg 35.12 SR 81.75 100 9 50 44 Wkts 156 BB 4/19

World Cup record: M 3 Runs 92 HS 62 Avg 30.66 SR 82.88 50 1 Wkts 1 BB 1/9

Remarkably, in a career spanning 282 ODIs dating back to the 1999-2000 season, veteran Pakistan allrounder Malik has played at just one World Cup. In 2007, he played all three matches that Pakistan played in a disastrous campaign in the West Indies.

A former Pakistan captain, Malik at the age of 37 is headed to his final World Cup.

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