ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final: Stats and Trivia

Stats and Trivia of World Cup finals

Australia and New Zealand appear in the finals of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the 11th edition of the mega edition, at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Bharath Seervi recalls stats, trivia and records from the past 10 World Cup finals.

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MCG will be hosting a World Cup final for the second time after 1992. None of the hosts had made it to the final on that occasion. Australia could not even reach the semi-finals while New Zealand won seven consecutive matches before crashing out following a semi-final defeat. MCG is only the second venue to host multiple World Cup finals after Lord’s, which has hosted four finals — in 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999.

List of World Cup finals

New Zealand will be playing their first World Cup final, while Australia have been there in six of the ten previous World Cups. England is the only team that have entered the finals but has never won a World Cup. They lost three finals — in 1979, 1987 and 1992.

–          The first five World Cup finals were all won by teams batting first. Three of the next five World Cup finals were won by teams batting second.

–          India has the distinction of defending the lowest total in finals as well as successfully chasing the biggest target in World Cup finals. They also have the distinction of losing by the most runs in a World Cup final.

–          The 2007 World Cup final was the only one in which overs were reduced due to rain.

–          The 1987 World Cup final was the closest among all; the margin of victory was just seven runs.

Captains in the World Cup finals

–          Clive Lloyd and Ricky Ponting are the only captains to win two World Cups — both in successive editions of the World Cup. Lloyd took his team to the finals of the next World Cup (1983) as well while Ricky Ponting’s team lost in the quarter-final of the next World Cup (2011).

–          England had three different captains in all their three World cup final losses. In fact, they had a different captain in all 11 editions of the World Cup and they are the only team with such a distinction.

–          Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara each lost a World Cup final (2007 and 2011 respectively). In 2015 World Cup their team was knocked in the quarter-finals when they both played as just players and not as captain.

–          Lloyd is the only captain to have won a World Cup as well as ended as the runner-up.

–          Kapil Dev is the youngest player to captain a side to the World Cup final and win it as well. Imran Khan is the oldest player in this regard.

–          Steve Waugh is the only captain not to bat in a World Cup final (1999). Except Wasim Akram, all the other captains who batted in World Cup final have hit at least one boundary. Wasim scored eight runs facing 20 ball in the 1999 World Cup final.

–          2011 World Cup final was the only occasion in which both the captains were wicketkeepers as well. No other wicketkeeper-captain has led his team to a World Cup final.

Captain affecting the dismissal of the opposing captain in a World Cup final

–          Lloyd affected a run out of the opposing captain Ian Chappell with Viv Richards in the 1975 final.

–          Kapil caught Clive off Roger Binny in the 1983 final.

–          Allan Border dismissed the opposing captain Mike Gatting caught by the wicketkeeper Greg Dyer in the 1987 final.

–          Wasim was caught by Waugh off the bowling of Shane Warne in 1999 final.

–          Ponting was run out by Jayawardene in the 2007 final.

–         MS  Dhoni caught Sangakkara off the bowling of Yuvraj Singh in 2011 final.

It is interesting to note a captain affecting the dismissal of the opposing captain has happened in the six finals so far. The captains for the 2015 World Cup final are Michael Clarke and Brendon McCullum.

Player of the match in World Cup finals

–          Mohinder Amarnath, Aravinda de Silva and Warne are the only players to win Man of the Match awards in both semi-finals and finals of the same edition of a World Cup.

–          Aravinda’s performance in 1996 World Cup final is probably the best considering his efforts in all three departments of the game — a century, three wickets and two catches.

–          In the last two World Cups, the Men of the Match Awards in the finals have been wicketkeepers — Adam Gilchrist and Dhoni. The wicketkeepers in the 2015 World Cup final are Brad Haddin and Luke Ronchi. Can one of them win the World Cup for their nation?

–          Lloyd, Ponting and Dhoni are the only three captains to win man of the match in a World Cup final. The former two went on to defend the World Cup for their team while the latter’s team was knocked out in the Semi-Finals of the next World Cup.

Centuries in World Cup finals

–          Jayawardene is the only one whose century in the World Cup final did not result in a victory.

–          Aravinda is the only one to score a century while batting second in a World Cup final.

–          World Cup finals have witnessed only two 90s, both in the same innings: Gautam Gambhir (97) and MS Dhoni (91*) achieved this against Sri Lanka in 2011.

Four or more wickets in a World Cup final

–          Three four-wicket hauls were taken in the first two World Cup finals and then only once in the next eight World Cup finals.

–          Gary Gilmour is the only one to do in a losing cause.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)