CWC highs and lows

Published Mar 30, 2015

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It went on for an age and a shambolic England side went home before it got interesting. Wisden Editor Lawrence Booth picks his highlights and lowlights of the Cricket World Cup.

Best bits

The renaissance of left-arm seamers

The yorkers produced at will by man of the tournament Mitchell Starc played a huge part in Australia’s triumph. New Zealand’s Trent Boult joined him on top of the wicket-taking list with 22. And the most uplifting spell of the competition was Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz in the quarter-final.

Kiwis’ one-wicket win over Australia

In a World Cup containing more hundreds than ever before (38), no game was more thrilling than the low-scoring thriller at Eden Park in Auckland. Set 152, New Zealand slipped from 131 for 4 to 146 for 9, before Kane Williamson sealed it with a six amid scenes of delirium. Here was proof that the best games don’t need to be run-fests.

The Associates

The first couple of weeks were lit up by teams who will mainly be shut out of the 2019 World Cup, which the ICC have limited to 10 teams: Ireland beat West Indies and Zimbabwe, Scotland gave New Zealand a scare, and Afghanistan beat Scotland. While other sports look to expand their games, cricket’s administrators remain content to shrink theirs. Baffling.

Sangakkara still going strong

Sri Lanka’s quarter-final defeat by South Africa meant Kumar Sangakkara’s one-day international career ended with a whimper — but not before he had scored an astonishing four successive centuries in the group matches. Even at 37, he remained the classiest act in the World Cup.

The fans

More than a million spectators attended the 49 games, with the New Zealand public getting behind the World Cup in a manner that delighted the ICC. If cricket’s popularity in that country has been guaranteed for the next decade and beyond, the World Cup will have done its job.

Worst bits

England

They were the laughing stock, completing the worst of their six World Cups since reaching the final in 1992 — and there’s been some stiff competition. They never recovered from maulings by Australia and New Zealand, failed to defend over 300 against Sri Lanka, and even lost to Bangladesh. For captain Eoin Morgan, the whole thing was a disaster.

Too few close finishes

Four one-sided quarter- finals typified a tournament in which too few of the games went to the wire, or even close to it. In fact, of the seven knockout matches, only the New Zealand-South Africa semi-final raised the pulse. And, as in 2011, the group stage dragged on and on and on.

The final

Australia’s dominance turned the climax into an anti-climax. Let’s not pretend, as some have tried, that this was the best World Cup ever.

The Australians were too far ahead of the rest for that, brushing aside India in the semis and New Zealand in the final. – Daily Mail

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