2003 Cricket World Cup statistics explained

2003 Cricket World Cup statistics lists all the major statistics and records for the 2003 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 24 March 2003.

Talha Jubair became the youngest player to participate in Cricket World Cup.^[1] Sri Lanka's clinical demolition of Canada for 36 runs created a new World Cup record for the lowest innings score, a dubious distinction that was, at the time, the lowest score in ODI history. Records tumbled when defending champions Australia took on minnows Namibia, with Glenn McGrath claiming the World Cup's best bowling figures (7/15), a performance that helped Australia defeat Namibia by 256 runs. Team-mate Adam Gilchrist created a new wicket-keeping dismissal record in the same match, with 6. Against Namibia, Indian players Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly recorded the second highest partnership in World Cup cricket (244 runs). India and Australia clashed in a one-sided battle in the final, with Australia creating multiple records (highest World Cup final score, highest score by a captain in a World Cup final – Ricky Ponting, most sixes by a batsman – Ponting) in a match; with Australia winning by 125 runs. Tendulkar's 673 runs, the second most runs scored in a single World Cup history to date (this was the highest number of runs scored by a batsman in a World Cup, until Virat Kohli scored 765 runs in the 2023 edition of the tournament), was the consolation for India as he won the 2003 Cricket World Cup Man of the Series award. The World Cup also saw fielding records in an innings (Mohammad Kaif) and tournament (Ponting). The World Cup broke the record for most sixes in the tournament (with 266), but this was easily surpassed in the 2007 edition (with 373).^[2]

Records

Country	Versus	Venue	Date
		Paarl	19-02-2003
Lowest innings total in any World Cup – 36, by Canada^[3] ^[4] Lowest innings total in any ODI – 36, by Canada (since beaten by Zimbabwe in 2003/4) Biggest Victory margin (By balls remaining) in World Cup history (50 over match) – 272 balls^[5]
		Port Elizabeth	13-02-2003
Seventh wicket partnership record for any World Cup – 98, by Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ridley Jacobs (West Indies)^[6]
		Potchefstroom	27-02-2003
Best bowling analysis in any World Cup innings – 7/15, by Glenn McGrath (Australia)^[7] Most runs off an over in any World Cup innings – 28, by Darren Lehmann^[8] (Australia, since beaten by Herschelle Gibbs) Highest Victory Margin (By runs) in World Cup – 256 runs, by Australia (since bettered by India against Bermuda in 2007 Cricket World Cup) Most wicket-keeper dismissals in any World Cup innings – 6, Adam Gilchrist (Australia)^[9]
		Johannesburg	10-03-2003
Most catches in an innings by a fielder in World Cup – Mohammad Kaif^[10]
		Johannesburg	23-03-2003
Highest score by a team in World Cup final – Australia Highest score by an individual in World Cup final – Ricky Ponting (since bettered by Adam Gilchrist in the finals against Sri Lanka in the 2007 Cricket World Cup) Highest score by a captain in World Cup final – Ricky Ponting Most sixes in a single World Cup innings – 8, by Ricky Ponting (Australia, since equalled by Imran Nazir and Adam Gilchrist) Second most runs in a single World Cup – 673, by Sachin Tendulkar (India) Most wicketkeeping dismissals in a single World Cup – 21, by Adam Gilchrist (Australia)^[11] Most fielder catches in a single World Cup – 11, by Ricky Ponting (Australia)^[12]

Team totals

Highest team totals

The highest score of the 2003 Cricket World Cup came in the finals when Australia scored 359 runs against India in 50 overs. This represents the highest score made in the finals of Cricket World Cup.^[13]

Note: Only scores of 310 or higher are listed.

Score (Overs)	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
359–2 (50)			Johannesburg	23-03-2003
340–2 (50)			Harare	10-02-2003
319–5 (50)			Centurion	07-03-2003
314–4 (50)			Bloemfontein	03-03-2003
311–2 (50)			Pietermaritzburg	23-02-2003
Source: CricketArchive.com

Lowest team totals

Canada were bowled out for the lowest ever total in World Cup history against Sri Lanka;^[4] which was also, at the time, the lowest ever total in ODI history.

Note: Only scores of 100 or lower are listed.

Score (Overs)	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
36 (18.4)			Paarl	19-02-2003
45 (14)			Potchefstroom	27-02-2003
84 (17.4)			Kimberley	16-02-2003
Source: CricketArchive.com

Bowling

Most wickets in the tournament

Vaas's haul of 23 wickets in the tournament was, at the time, the record in World Cup history. His record was equalled or bettered by three bowlers in the 2007 edition of the World Cup (Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shaun Tait).

Note: Only top 10 players shown. Sorted by wickets then bowling average.

Player	Team	M	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Mdns	Avg	4WI	5WI	BBI	Econ	S/R
		10	88	331	23	14	14.39	1	1	6/25	3.76	22.9
		10	83.1	394	22	9	17.90	0	1	5/42	4.73	22.6
		11	87	310	21	18	14.76	0	1	7/15	3.56	24.8
		11	88.2	374	18	5	20.77	1	0	4/42	4.23	29.4
		8	78	305	17	12	17.94	0	1	6/23	3.91	27.5
		10	87.4	319	17	7	18.76	1	0	4/28	3.63	30.9
		8	57	197	16	7	12.31	0	1	7/20	3.45	21.3
		6	51.5	208	16	7	13.00	0	2	5/33	4.01	19.4
		11	91.1	369	16	4	23.06	2	0	4/30	4.04	34.1
		9	69.1	289	15	9	19.26	1	1	6/23	4.17	27.6
Source: Cricinfo.com

Best bowling

Note: Only top ten performances listed.

Bowling figures Wickets-Runs (Overs)	Bowler	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
7-15 (7)					27-02-2003
7–20 (10)					02-03-2003
6–23 (10)					26-02-2003
6–23 (10)					11-03-2003
6–25 (9.1)					14-02-2003
5–24 (10)					24-02-2003
5–27 (9)					11-02-2003
5–28 (9)					16-02-2003
5–33 (10)					04-03-2003
5–42 (9.1)					11-03-2003
Source: Cricinfo.com

Batting

Most runs in the tournament

The 2003 Cricket World Cup had four cricketers scoring over 400 runs in the tournament (two Indians and two Australians), a record that has been bettered when ten cricketers scored more than 400 runs in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Sachin's 673 runs in the 2003 Cricket World Cup is the second highest number of runs scored in a single edition in World Cup history.^[14]

Note: Only top 10 players shown. Sorted by total.

Player	Team	M	I	NO	Total	Avg	50s	100s	Best	S/R
		11	11	0	673	61.18	6	1	152	89.25
		11	11	3	465	58.12	0	3	112*	82.30
		11	10	2	415	51.87	1	2	140*	87.92
		10	10	0	408	40.80	4	0	99	105.15
		6	6	2	384	96.00	2	1	143	100.78
		10	10	3	382	54.57	1	2	124	84.51
		8	7	0	332	47.42	3	0	71	72.33
		11	11	1	328	32.80	1	0	88	80.00
		9	5	3	326	163.00	2	1	143*	90.55
		10	8	3	323	64.60	4	0	88*	81.77
Source: Cricinfo.com

Highest individual scores

Twenty one individual centuries were scored in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the highest across all editions.^[15]

Note: The top ten scores are listed below.

Runs	Balls	Batsman	Country	Versus	Venue	Date	Strike rate
172*	151	CB Wishart		Namibia	Harare	10-02-2003	113.91
152	151	S Tendulkar		Namibia	Pietermaritzburg	23-02-2003	100.66
143*	125	A Symonds		Pakistan	Johannesburg	11-02-2003	114.40
143	141	HH Gibbs		New Zealand	Johannesburg	16-02-2003	101.42
141	125	SB Styris		Sri Lanka	Bloemfontein	10-02-2003	112.80
140*	121	RT Ponting		India	Johannesburg	23-03-2003	115.70
134*	132	SP Fleming		South Africa	Johannesburg	16-02-2003	101.52
134*	129	KJJ van Noortwijk		Namibia	Bloemfontein	03-03-2003	103.88
124	129	MS Atapattu		South Africa	Durban	03-03-2003	96.12
121	142	JF Kloppenburg		Namibia	Bloemfontein	03-03-2003	85.21
Source: Cricinfo.com

Highest partnerships of the tournament

There were 25 century partnerships in the tournament, in comparison to 28 century partnerships in the 1999 Cricket World Cup.^[16] The top ten partnerships have been listed below. The 244 run partnership between Ganguly and Tendulkar is currently the second highest partnership in World Cup history.^[17]

Runs	Wicket	Partnerships	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
244	2nd	SC Ganguly/Sachin Tendulkar		Namibia	Pietermaritzburg	23-02-2003
234*	3rd	DR Martyn/RT Ponting		India	Johannesburg	23-03-2003
228	2nd	JF Kloppenburg/KJJ van Noortwijk		Namibia	Bloemfontein	03-03-2003
170	2nd	ST Jayasuriya/HP Tillakaratne		New Zealand	Bloemfontein	10-02-2003
166*	3rd	GW Flower/CB Wishart		Namibia	Harare	10-02-2003
153	1st	V Sehwag/SR Tendulkar		Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	10-03-2003
152	4th	MS Atapattu/PA de Silva		South Africa	Durban	03-03-2003
142*	1st	HH Gibbs/G Kirsten		Kenya	Potchefstroom	12-02-2003
140*	2nd	NJ Astle/SP Fleming		South Africa	Johannesburg	16-02-2003
129*	4th	R Dravid/M Kaif		New Zealand	Centurion	14-03-2003
Source: Cricinfo.com

Highest partnerships for each wicket

Wicket	Runs	Partnerships	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
1st	153	SR Tendulkar/V Sehwag		Sri Lanka	Johannesburg	10-03-2003
2nd	244	SR Tendulkar/SC Ganguly		Namibia	Pietermaritzburg	23-02-2003
3rd	234*	RT Ponting/DR Martyn		India	Johannesburg	23-03-2003
4th	152	MS Atapattu/PA de Silva		South Africa	Durban	03-03-2003
5th	118*	SC Ganguly/Yuvraj Singh		Kenya	Cape Town	07-03-2003
6th	90	AJ Stewart/A Flintoff		Australia	Port Elizabeth	02-03-2003
7th	98	RR Sarwan/RD Jacobs		New Zealand	Port Elizabeth	13-02-2003
8th	97	MG Bevan/AJ Bichel		New Zealand	Port Elizabeth	11-03-2003
9th	73*	MG Bevan/AJ Bichel		England	Port Elizabeth	02-03-2003
10th	54	Saqlain Mushtaq/Shoaib Akhtar		England	Cape Town	22-02-2003
Source: cricketarchive.com

Fielding

Most catches in a match

Catches	Player	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
4					10-03-2003
3					12-02-2003
				19-02-2003
				20-02-2003
				22-02-2003
				23-02-2003
				26-02-2003
				02-03-2003
Source: Cricinfo.com

Most catches in the tournament

Note: Only lists players with 6 catches or more.

Catches	Player	Team	Matches
11			11
8			10
		11
		11
6			6
		10
		11
Source: Cricinfo.com

Wicket-keeping

Most dismissals in a match

Note: only top five performances listed (sorted by dismissals then date).

Dismissals	Player	Country	Versus	Venue	Date
6 (6c)					27-02-2003
4 (3c+1st)					10-02-2003
4 (2c+2st)					01-03-2003
4 (3c+1st)					12-03-2003
4 (3c+1st)					18-03-2003
Source: Cricinfo.com

Most dismissals in the tournament

Note: Only top 10 players shown.

Dismissals (stumpings)	Player	Team	Matches
21			10
17 (2)			10
16 (1)			11
12 (4)			9
11			6
10 (2)			6
9			7
8 (1)			6
8 (1)			6
7 (1)			5
Source: Cricinfo.com

Tied matches

After the tied semifinal match in the 1999 Cricket World cup that eliminated them^[18] South Africa were held to another tie when they scored 229 in 45 overs, needing 230 to win by the Duckworth–Lewis method, against Sri Lanka.^[19] South Africa needed a win to progress to the "Super-6" stage, but were ultimately eliminated from the tournament.^[20]

See also

• Cricket statistics
• Cricket terminology
• Cricket World Cup records
• 2007 Cricket World Cup statistics

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cricket World Cup – Youngest Player. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20060719161428/http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/WC/INDIVIDUAL/WC_YOUNGEST_PLAYERS.html. 19 July 2006. dead.
2. Web site: A Cup of towering sixes. Rediff.com. 9 April 2007. 2007-06-10.
3. Web site: Lowest totals – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-06-09.
4. Web site: Statistical highlights: Sri Lanka v/s Canada. Rediff.com. 19 February 2003. 2007-07-08.
5. Web site: Largest victories – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
6. Web site: Highest partnerships by wicket – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-06-09.
7. Web site: Best bowling figures in an innings – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
8. Web site: Highest Victory Margins. Rediff.com. 27 February 2003. 2007-07-08.
9. Web site: Most dismissals in an innings-World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
10. Web site: Most catches in an innings-World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
11. Web site: Most dismissals in a series – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
12. Web site: Most catches in a series-World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
13. Web site: Australia rout India to win third World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08. 23 March 2003.
14. Web site: Most runs in a series – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-06-09.
15. Web site: List of hundreds – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-06-09.
16. Web site: List of hundred partnerships – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
17. Web site: Highest partnerships by runs – World Cup. Cricinfo. 2007-07-08.
18. Web site: World Cup 1999, second semi-final, Australia v South Africa. Wisden Almanack. 2000. Tim de Lisle. 2007-07-08.
19. Web site: Smallest Victories – World Cup . . 2007-06-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070531061354/http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wc2007/engine/records/team/smallest_margins.html?id=12%3Btype%3Dtrophy . 31 May 2007 . live .
20. Web site: Rain pushes S Africa out of World Cup. Rediff.com. 4 March 2003. 2007-07-08.