2007 Cricket World Cup

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 have 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 (the last of which hosted the final) which each 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 is 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 will cost US$35 million. The total amount of money spent on stadiums was at least US$301 million.

The Brian Lara Stadium, in Trinidad, lost its status as a pre-tournament warm-up match venue on 21 September 2006.

Qualification

The field of 16 teams, the largest ever for the Cricket World Cup, consists of all 16 teams which currently hold One Day International status. This includes the ten full members of the ICC (which all have Test and permanent ODI status). The other six (associate) ODI nations are Kenya (which has ODI status until 2009) and five further teams which qualified via the 2005 ICC Trophy (gaining ODI status until 2009, in the process). These nations included Canada, Scotland, Netherlands and - making their World Cup debuts - Ireland and Bermuda.

Squads

There were 16 teams in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The teams were asked to announce their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICCs Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury.

Media coverage

The World Cup has grown as a media event with each tournament. The sponsorship and television rights that were awarded primarily to cover the 2003 and 2007 World Cups raised over US$550 Million. The 2007 World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to a viewing audience estimated at more than two billion television viewers and was expected to generate more than 100,000 unique visitors to the West Indies who travelled solely for the tournament.

The 2007 Cricket World Cup featured an orange, anthropomorphic raccoon-like creature named "Mello" as its mascot. It has been announced during matches that Mello has no race, species, age or gender- it is an attitude, the attitude of the young people of the West Indies. The official song for the World Cup was "The Game of Love and Unity" by Jamaican-born Shaggy, Bajan entertainer Rupee and Trinidadian Fay-Ann Lyons.

The 2007 tournament recorded the highest ticket sales for a Cricket World Cup, selling more than 672,000. However, attendance leading into the semi finals for the 2007 World Cup was 403,000; an average of 8,500 supporters per match.

Leadup

All major Test-playing nations had schedules allowing them to play a large number of One Day International 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 (South Africa won 4–0) and five against Pakistan (South Africa won 3–1) while India also played four ODIs against the West Indies (India won 3–1) and four ODIs against Sri Lanka (India won 2–1). Bangladesh played four ODIs against Zimbabwe (Bangladesh won 3–1) 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:

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 acclimatised to conditions in the West Indies. The warm-up matches were not considered as official ODIs. The matches were played from Monday 5 March until Friday 9 March. The matches included a surprise victory by Bangladesh over New Zealand.

Opening ceremony

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Opening Ceremony was held on Sunday, 11 March 2007, at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica.

It featured over 2000 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; there were messages from the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and Grenada.

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 (if the match was not otherwise won, for example if the team batting second was dismissed before the completion of 20 overs). In the event of bad weather, the Duckworth-Lewis method was applied to determine the result or target. If no result was declared on the scheduled day, the teams returned the next 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 (third umpire): 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 Stage and in the Super 8 Stage points were awarded as follows:

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:

1. Most wins in their group or in Super 8 whichever is applicable
2. Higher net run rate
3. Higher number of wickets taken per ball
4. Winners of head to head matches
5. The drawing of lots

Umpires

The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprised nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included was Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel consisted of seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as West Indies' team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who was appearing in his fifth final in a row – extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.

Seeds

The tournament began with a league stage consisting of four groups of four. Each team played each of the other teams in its group once. Australia, India, England and West Indies were placed in separate pools for logistical reasons, as they were expected to have the most supporters in attendance, and transport and accommodation capacity in the West Indies is limited.

The groups are listed below, with seedings (rankings from April 2005) shown in brackets. Each group played all of its matches at a single ground.

System

The tournament was preceded by a number of warm-up matches to acclimatise the players. The group stage matches started on Tuesday 13 March and finished on Sunday 25 March. There were a total of 24 matches played in the group stage.

The top two teams in each group proceeded to the "Super 8" stage which also used a league system. Each team carried forward its result against the other team qualifying from its preliminary stage group, and played the other six qualifying teams once each. The top four teams in the league qualified for the semi-finals. This system was modified since the previous World Cup, which had a "Super 6" stage rather than a Super 8. The Super 8 stage matches were played from Tuesday 27 March until Saturday 21 April. A total of 24 matches were played in the Super 8 stage.

The top four teams in the "Super 8" advanced to the semi-finals. This was the knockout stage, with the No. 1 team playing the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team playing the No. 3 team in the tournament. The winners of the two semi-finals played each other in the Final.

All tournament matches have one reserve day (the day after the scheduled day of the match) to allow for matches to be completed in the event of bad weather.

Super 8 stage

The top two teams in each first-round group moved on to a "super eight" stage which is scored as a complete round-robin. But each of the eight teams played only six new matches, rather than seven – each group's two representatives carried forward their result against each other rather than play again. Thus the table below, showing seven matches for each team, covers all matches between the Super 8 qualifiers, including those from the Group Stage.

Teams depicted in green backgrounds qualified for the semi-finals.

Final

This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat – the sides previously met in the 1996 World Cup final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia had won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss. The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance and Australia's sixth, their fourth in a row. Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Adam Gilchrist played an incredible innings of 149 – the highest for any batsman in a World Cup final – to give Australia an imposing total going in at the break.

While Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka's chances slowly diminished. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the end of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light. While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ricky Ponting agreeing to play only spinners. The umpires later apologised for their error: the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added just nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method, as Sri Lanka had batted two overs fewer than they had.

Australia won the tournament undefeated, concluding a streak of 29 World Cup games without a loss. Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named 'Player of the Series'.

Death of Bob Woolmer

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead on 18 March 2007, one day after his team's defeat to Ireland put them out of the running for the World Cup. Jamaican police performed an autopsy which was deemed inconclusive. The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Further investigation revealed the cause of death was "manual strangulation", and that the investigation would be handled as a murder. After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was murdered, and confirmed that he died from natural causes.

Criticism

The 2007 World Cup organizers were criticised early on for being over-commercialized and, in particular, the generally smaller crowds have been blamed on the ICC's security restrictions on things such as outside food, signs, replica kits and musical instruments, despite Caribbean cricketing customs, as well as the authorities being accused of "running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitising it out of existence". Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns. The ICC were also condemned for high prices for tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations. ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognised the problem but said it was the local organizers' fault. However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organizers easing restrictions. Although they did not meet the target of US$42m, the revenue from ticket sales was double the ticket sales revenue from the last World Cup and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup with more than $32 million in ticket revenue.

The World Cup was also criticised by the BCCI for its format because India failed to move on from the group stage after losing two of their three matches. The BCCI later claimed it would see to it that the ICC will alter its World Cup format for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The elimination of India and Pakistan also caused a large exodus of subcontinental fans from the Caribbean, and removed the prospect of an India vs Pakistan Super Eights match, generally considered one of the most revenue generating and electric matches in the tournament.

The tournament was also criticised as being too long. At 6 weeks, it was the same length as the 2003 World Cup, but longer than the 5-week 1999 World Cup and the 4-week 1996 World Cup. The famous West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding also criticised the qualification process for the 2007 World Cup. Holding expressed doubts over the benefit to less established teams of turning up and being heavily defeated. However, former Scotland captain George Salmond claims that the opportunity to play one-day cricket against the bigger teams is invaluable for smaller teams such as his own, and questioned the validity of Holding's statements. The majority of the experts and players participating in the tournament backed up the smaller teams taking part in the World Cup. This was further backed up with Ireland and Bangladesh making the Super 8s and being competitive and sportsmanlike throughout the tournament.

Further criticism was generated by the confusion at the end of the final match, during which the umpires suspended play due to bad light and while official announcements and the scoreboard declared Australia the winners and the Australian team celebrated, while the umpires incorrectly insisted that the game was only suspended not completed, and that 3 overs remained to be played. And so in farcical light conditions, Sri Lanka batted out the 3 overs following a gentleman's agreement between the two captains. The umpires and ICC apologised for the unnecessary situation and cited it as an unnecessary fundamental error due to the pressure of the situation. In June the ICC announced that the officials involved – onfield umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and match referee Jeff Crowe – would all be suspended from the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.

Preparation problems

A number of preparation problems surfaced before the start of the World Cup. Some of the venues were not complete by the opening ceremony on 11 March 2007.. At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns. At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm up matches due to accreditation problems. Additionally, South Africa and Australia both expressed concerns over practice facilities.