5 greatest instances of fielding in the history of the World Cup

Presence of mind in the field is an invaluable skill - and on the world cup stage, it is essential - especially in a pressure situation.

Some of these players have been innate fielders - some of them simply had the presence of mind to put themselves in the right position at the right time.

Here are some such instances.

Steve Waugh, Australia vs India, (1992)

He may have become one of Australia's best captains later in his career, but Steve Waugh always knew how to take charge. In a league game between Australia and India at the 1992 World Cup, hosts Australia were defending a total of 237 runs, with Dean Jones making a valiant 90 runs before tumbling caught and bowled.

India got off to a poor start as well, and openers Ravi Shastri and Kris Srikkanth failed to fire - Shastri got out for a cheap 25 runs, while Srikkanth saw a duck. Skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was the sole firepower in the side with 93 runs, before being run out by his Australian counterpart, Allan Border.

Sanjay Manjrekar attempted to notch up a half-century to buoy the team, but also felt short of his ground. With three fewer overs to notch up their total because of the rain (and a very insignificantly reduced total), all India had were bowlers Kiran More, Javagal Srinath, Manoj Prabhakar and SLV Raju waiting to bat. More hit a couple of boundaries and lost his wicket, with Srinath and Raju at the crease.

Srinath created a catching opportunity for Waugh when the ball sailed to the boundary, with India needing 3 runs to tie. Waugh missed the catch, but quickly recovered to send the ball back to keeper for that game, David Boon.

That retrieval and recovery saw the end of what was a very close contest.

Herschelle Gibbs, Sri Lanka vs South Africa (2007)

Teams were inching closer and closer to the finals of the 2007 World Cup, and Sri Lanka and South Africa had both made it to the Super Eights stage - played round-robin to decide the semi-finalists.

Sri Lanka were to set a target, and Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya put on a middling-to-poor 38 runs together. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene never really got off to much of a start, and made 12 runs from the 31 deliveries he faced before being caught by AB De Villiers. All seemed lost for the Sri Lankan batting attack, and not even Kumar Sangakkara could contribute.

Then came Chamara Silva, with Sri Lanka hoping that he could steady the batting - with only Dilshan and Russel Arnold left to come to the crease in terms of a batting attack.

Then came the bowling of perhaps one of the all-round greats of cricket - Jacques Kallis. A clean delivery was misjudged, with Gibbs at slips diving for the ball in a scene straight out of the 1992 World Cup and another famous Protea - the Greatest of All Time of fielding, Jonty Rhodes.

Gibbs flew, almost, diving to the stumps with ball in hand as Silva misjudged his run completely.

Kallis led the batting attack for South Africa, but Lasith Malinga almost pulled the Lions back into the game with a spectacular hat-trick.

Robin Peterson took the Proteas fairly comfortably home in the end, but Gibbs' diving run-out showed the team's fire for the win.

And watching that SA win from the stands? South Africa's fielding coach - a man named Jonty Rhodes.

Dwayne Leverock, Bermuda v India (2007)

It was the ICC Cricket World Cup of 2007, hosted in the Caribbean, and Bermuda were taking on India in Port of Spain. The Caribbean team were fresh off a 243-run loss to Sri Lanka, and one might not have expected momentum or motivation from the lesser-known team.

Bermudian bowler and fielder Dwayne Leverock was then 36-years-old - not young by cricketing standards, and was a policeman in his day job. Leverock was also very overweight, by his own admission, at 280lbs, or roughly 128 kilograms - making him the heaviest player at the World Cup that year, and the second heaviest cricketer of all time.

Leverock was taunted even in the nickname his teammates had for him: Sluggo. The press, other players, all called him unkind names, but this did not deter the talented bowler, whose idol was Pakistani leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.

At the crease was then-22-year-old Robin Uthappa, who was facing 17-year-old Bermudian bowler Malachi Jones, with Leverock fielding at slips.

Jones sent in a short delivery, and Uthappa edged it. Leverock was lightning-fast and leapt out at full stretch, arm outstretched to take the catch - and he did, with aplomb.

Although Bermuda eventually lost that match by 257 runs in what would be the biggest margin of defeat in ODI history, Leverock's catch went down in history.

Jonty Rhodes, South Africa vs Pakistan (1992)

There's a reason - or a couple of hundred - that South African cricketing icon Jonty Rhodes is considered the greatest fielder of all time. If a catch went in Rhodes' direction, the batsman was well on his way to the pavilion - and if you were short of your ground with Jonty Rhodes around, you were a goner.

That was definitely the case with Inzamam-ul-Haq at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Both Pakistan and South Africa had disastrous starts to the World Cup that year, although Pakistan's ended on a very favourable note - they won the trophy. Both teams won their first matches and quickly tumbled in the next two, so it was a strong but struggling team against another one.

Rain dealt Pakistan a heavy blow as it almost doubled the asking rate for an Imran-Khan led Pakistan. Khan and Inzamam held on at the wicket and put up a strong partnership, but it is safe to say Inzamam is not one of the best between the wickets.

Inzamam missed a heave, and his teammate Imran Khan only just got out of his crease and stopped - with Inzamam still well short of his own as he tried to scramble for a return. Jonty Rhodes, at deep backward point, took the ball and rocketed towards the stumps. In a question of who is faster, the answer is a no-brainer, and Rhodes, ball in hand, jumped and threw himself at the stumps instead.

South Africa eventually took a 20-run win.

Kapil Dev, India vs West Indies (1983)

For Indian fans, the 1983 Cricket World Cup is the stuff of legend. A reference to 1983 will immediately mean the World Cup for most Indian cricket fans - and what better stage for a brilliant catch than the final, and what better person to do it than the captain?

Viv Richards is known for good cause as a batting legend, and although India took the early wicket of Gordon Greenidge, Richards was a different beast - and he tackled the Indian bowlers with aplomb. In fact, he was so ruthless that most Indian fans, and perhaps even the team, might have believed they were done for in that final and would shortly be on the way to the dugout.

This time, it was Madan Lal bowling to Richards, and Richards sent an edge in the direction of Kapil Dev, fielding at mid-on, took the difficult catch seemingly easily.

That wicket somehow saw the collapse of the remainder of the West Indies batting lineup, and the side quickly tumbled - with India winning by a 43-run margin in the end.