2007 Cricket World Cup
The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2003 World Cup.
The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a Super 8 format. Every team played a total of 6 matches in the Super 8 round; they didn't play with teams of their own group. They played a total of 6 teams from another three groups. From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup and their fourth overall. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without a loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The tournament also saw upsets and surprise results, with pre-tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to make it past the group stage, while Bangladesh, the second-lowest ranked ICC Full Member at the time, and World Cup debutant Ireland, which was an ICC Associate Member at the time, made it to the "Super 8", beating India and Pakistan respectively en route. Ireland became only the second associate nation to make it past the first round of a Cricket World Cup, the first being Kenya in 2003.
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died the day after Pakistan was knocked out. The following day, police initially announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Eight months later, an open verdict was returned and the case closed.
Following the tournament, the ICC distributed surplus tournament revenues of US$239 million to its members.
Host selection
The World Cup was awarded to the West Indies via the International Cricket Council's rotational policy. It is the first time the ICC Cricket World Cup has been held in the Caribbean despite the fact that the West Indies cricket team had been the second most successful team in past World Cups.The United States contingent lobbied strongly for matches to be staged at its newly built cricket ground in Lauderhill, Florida, but the ICC decided to award all matches to Caribbean nations. Bids from Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and a second bid by Jamaica were also rejected.
Eight venues across the West Indies were selected to host the World Cup tournament. All host countries hosted six matches with the exceptions of St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Barbados, each of which hosted seven matches.
The Jamaican government spent US$81 million for "on-the-pitch" expenses. This included refurbishing Sabina Park and constructing the new multi-purpose facility in Trelawny through a loan from China. Another US$20 million was budgeted for 'off-the-pitch' expenses, putting the tally at more than US$100 million or JM$7 billion.
This put the reconstruction cost of Sabina Park at US$46 million whilst the Trelawny Stadium was estimated to cost US$35 million. The total amount of money spent on stadiums was at least US$301 million.
Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad lost its status as a pre-tournament warm-up match venue on 21 September 2006.
Venues
Warm-up venues
Qualification
The field of 16 teams, the largest ever for the Cricket World Cup, consisted of all 16 teams which currently held ODI status. This included the ten full members of the ICC, all of which have Test and permanent ODI status. The other six ODI nations were Kenya and five additional teams that qualified via the 2005 ICC Trophy. These nations included Scotland who won the ICC Trophy, Canada, the Netherlands, and – making their World Cup debuts – Ireland and Bermuda.Squads
The 16 teams had to name their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICC's Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury.Leadup
All major Test-playing nations had schedules allowing them to play a large number of ODI matches against other major ODI teams just prior to the World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, and England took part in the Commonwealth Bank Series where England defeated Australia in the finals. Australia then went to New Zealand for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, losing 3–0. South Africa played five ODIs against India and five against Pakistan, while India also played four ODIs against the West Indies and four ODIs against Sri Lanka. Bangladesh played four ODIs against Zimbabwe and won a tri-series against Canada and Bermuda. The associate ODI teams took part in the World Cricket League, which Kenya won, and were also involved in other series prior to the World Cup.The rankings of the teams at the beginning of the Cricket World Cup were:
| Ranking | Team | Points |
| 1 | 128 | |
| 2 | 125 | |
| 3 | 113 | |
| 4 | 111 | |
| 5 | 109 | |
| 6 | 108 | |
| 7 | 106 | |
| 8 | 101 | |
| 9 | 42 | |
| 10 | 22 | |
| 11 | 0 | |
| 12 | 0% / 69% | |
| 13 | 0% / 50% | |
| 14 | 0% / 44% | |
| 15 | 0% / 33% | |
| 16 | 0% / 28% |
''Note: Teams 12–16 did not have official ODI rankings leading up to the World Cup; they are ranked based on their win percentage against full members and then wins against associate members prior to the tournament.''
Warm-up matches
Prior to the main tournament, all 16 nations played a series of warm-up matches to prepare, experiment with different tactics, and to help them get acclimated to conditions in the West Indies. The matches were played from Monday 5 March until Friday 9 March.Australia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan were the only teams to win both of their warm-up games, whilst Bermuda, Canada, the Netherlands and Scotland did not win either of their fixtures.
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Aggregate warm-up results
Match status
None of the warm-up games were officially recognised as ODIs or List A matches by the International Cricket Council due to various changes in the rules of the game. Whilst normally only 11 players are allowed to bat and field, 13 players were used in each team's squad for the matches - 11 of which were allowed to field at one time and 11 of which were allowed to bat. In official ICC matches match referees are required to help officiate a game, but due to the changes in the rules none were appointed for any of the warm-up games. Additionally, Man of the Match awards were not given out and no reserve days were set for these matches.Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was held on Sunday, 11 March 2007 at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica. It featured over 2,000 dancers and performers representing all strands of West Indian music, from calypso and ragga to reggae and soca. Among the performers were Sean Paul, Byron Lee, Kevin Lyttle, Beres Hammond, Lucky Dube, Buju Banton, Half Pint, Arrow, Machel Montano, Alison Hinds, Tony Rebel, Third World, Gregory Isaacs, David Rudder, Shaggy, the I Threes, and Jimmy Cliff.The ceremony, attended by several heads of state including the Governor-General of Jamaica, started with an address by Sir Garfield Sobers and included messages from the prime ministers of Jamaica and Grenada.
Rules and regulations
Matches
The matches were One Day Internationals and operated under normal ODI rules. All matches were to be 50 overs a side unless stated otherwise by the umpires or match referee. A bowler was able to bowl a maximum of 10 overs per match.In the event of bad weather, each side must have batted a minimum of 20 overs for a result to be declared. In the event of bad weather, the Duckworth-Lewis method was to be applied to determine the result or target. If no result was declared on the scheduled day, the teams would return the following day to complete the game, with the same situation as when the game was abandoned.
There was a new rule regarding referral of catches to the TV replay official : if the standing umpires were unable to determine whether a catch had been taken cleanly, and/or whether a claimed catch was a "bump ball", they had discretion to refer the decision to the third umpire. Also, whilst reviewing such a catch via TV replay if it was clear to the third umpire that the batsman did not hit the ball, he was to indicate that the batsman was not out.
Tournament points
In the Group and Super 8 stages, points were awarded as follows:| Results | Points |
| Win | 2 points |
| Tie/No Result | 1 point |
| Loss | 0 points |
The top two teams from each group advanced to the Super 8 stage and any points they earned against the other qualifier from their own group was carried through. Points earned against the non-qualifying teams in the same pool were not carried over. In the Super 8s, each team played the six remaining qualifiers from the other groups and the top four teams went through to the semi-finals. Positions were decided by most points. Where two or more teams were tied on points, the following methods in turn were used to decide which team went through:
- Most wins in their group or in Super 8, whichever is applicable
- Higher net run rate
- Higher number of wickets taken per ball
- Winners of head-to-head matches
- The drawing of lots