Recap: 2003 Cricket World Cup

The 2003 Cricket World Cup was the first time that the tournament was held in the continent of Africa. It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe & Kenya. This World Cup saw Namibia make their debut in the tournament. This was also the first World Cup to feature 14 teams, the most in the history of the tournament then.

The teams were divided into two groups with seven teams each with the top three teams from each group advancing to the Super Six stage. Group A comprised of Australia, India, England, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Netherlands and Namibia. Australia, India and Zimbabwe were the top 3 teams from this group that qualified for the Super Six stage.

Group B comprised of Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Kenya, Canada and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka, Kenya and New Zealand were the teams from this group to qualify for the Super Six stage.

The Super Six stage saw Australia, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka to qualify for the semi-finals. Surprise semi-finalists Kenya became the first non-Test playing nation to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup.

The first semi-final, saw Australia defeat Sri Lanka by 48 runs And qualify for the finals. In the second semi-final, India ended Kenya's dream run in the tournament by defeating them by 91 runs.

The finals saw Australia defeat India by 125 runs to win the trophy. Australia became the first team to win three World Cup trophies. Ricky Ponting (140*) became the fourth player to score a century in the finals of a World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar was named as the Player of the tournament.

Some of the key performances from the tournament are mentioned below.

Batting performances:

359/2 by Australia against India was the highest team total in the 2003 World Cup.

673 runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar of India were the most number of runs scored by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

172* scored by Craig Wishart of Zimbabwe against Namibia was the highest individual score by a player in the tournament.

21 centuries were scored in the 2003 World Cup.

3 centuries scored by Sourav Ganguly of India was the most number of centuries scored by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

6 half-centuries scored by Sachin Tendulkar were the most number of half-centuries scored by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

Bowling performances:

23 wickets taken by Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka were the most number of wickets taken by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

7/15 by Glenn McGrath of Australia against Namibia was the best bowling performance by a player in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

12 five-wicket hauls were taken in the 2003 World Cup.

2 five-wicket hauls by Vasbert Drake of the West Indies was the most number of five-wicket hauls taken by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

Wicketkeeping performances:

21 dismissals by Adam Gilchrist of Australia were the most number of dismissals by a wicketkeeper in the 2003 World Cup.

6 dismissals by Adam Gilchrist against Namibia were the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in an innings in the 2003 World Cup.

Fielding performances:

11 catches taken by Ricky Ponting of Australia were the most number of catches taken by a player in the 2003 World Cup.

4 catches taken by Mohammad Kaif of India against Sri Lanka were the most number of catches taken by a player in a single match at the 2003 World Cup.