Bowlers hold key to success in World Cup

[DesiChap]

New Delhi, February 24: In cricket, they say, bowlers win matches. If one looks back at the history of World Cup, seldom a team has annexed the coveted trophy without the sterling performances of the bowlers. Be it the invincible West Indies of late '70s, the Indian underdogs and fighting Australia in the '80s, a resurgent Pakistan and the dark horses Sri Lanka in the '90s or the now superpower Australia--the bowlers have held the key to success in the war for annexing the cup of joy. And this year's clashes in the Caribbean would be no different from previous editions of the World Cup with the seamers and spinners baying for blood in equal vigour. It will be no surprise then if the likes of Sri Lankans Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralitharan and Indians Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan return with rich harvests from their campaign in the West Indies. Leggie Kumble remains the top Indian bowler to have claimed 28 wickets in 17 matches of the mega event he has played so far. In three World Cup appearances at an average of 23.92 and economy rate of 4.08 an over. In 1996, the ace Indian spinner was adjudged the best bowler after he captured 15 wickets, most wickets by a bowler for any country in that edition of the tournament. Even though, bowlers from top two ranked nations?South Africa and Australia--stand a good chance of reaping a rich harvest of wickets, the stalwarts from Asia cannot be ignored considering their past records. Vaas (5th world ranking), Muralitharan (9th) and Kumble (12th), Sanath Jayasuriya (34th) and Zaheer Khan (37th) are the bowlers who will definitely pose though challenge for their opponents in the mega event. The Asians will take heart from the fact that another fellow Wasim Akram of Pakistan is at the top of the table as regards performance in the World Cup. After Akram (55 wickets at an average of 23.83), Australia's Glenn McGrath (45 at 20.77), Javagal Srinath (44 at 27.81) and Allan Donald (38 at 24.02) are the other leading bowlers in the World Cup history. As for the Indian bowlers, Ashish Nehra is credited as the sixth best in the world with six for 23 against England at Durban in the last world cup. Among the 36 bowlers world wide to have claimed five or more wickets, Venkatesh Prasad (5 for 27-against Pakistan in 1999) and Kapil Dev (5 for 43-against Australia in 1983) were the only two Indians figure in the list. As for economy rate in an innings, Zaheer Khan figures along with the elite group with 1.50 (9.2-2-14-3) against Kenya at Durban in 2003. Zaheer, having played in only one World Cup, leads the pack of Indians as the most wicket-taker in a series with 18 scalps for an average of 20.77 in 11 matches in 2003, with a strike rate of 4.23 an over. As far as the record in hat-trick goes, India's Chetan Sharma created history on October 31, 1987, by claiming the first hat-trick of the World Cup. Chetan notched up his marvellous record when India played New Zealand at Nagpur, cleaning up Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield. The other three bowlers to have achieved this feat are Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq (against Zimbabwe at Oval, 1999), Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas (against Bangladesh at Pietermaritzburg, 2003) and Brett Lee (against Kenya at Durban, 2003). Among other notable performances for which the bowlers hit headlines in the quadrennial event, Australian Gary Gilmour, in his debut World Cup match, arrested attention after being hailed as 'Gary Glitter' for his glittering 6/14 showing at the Lord's in the semifinal versus England and paving the way for his team to the 1975 World Cup final. West Indies' Winston Davis, another debutant in 1983 World Cup, run through the Australian batting line-up at Leeds with figures of 7/51 and later emerged as the most wicket-taker in an innings in the tournament's history. McGrath's outstanding 7/15 feat against Namibia at Potchefstroom and Andy Bichel's 7/20 against England at Port Elizabeth took 20 years to upstage Davis' two-decade long record.

[yoda]

Re: Bowlers hold key to success in World Cup Depends on the piches, world cup or not.