The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) 50-over cricket tournament was organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29, 2015, and Australia won the final beating New Zealand by seven wickets.
This was the second time the tournament was held in Australia and New Zealand, the first been the 1992 edition. The tournament consisted of 14 teams, which were split into two pools of seven, with each team playing every other team in their pool once. The top four teams from each pool progressed to the knockout stage, which consisted of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.
The final was played between the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).It was Australia’s fifth Cricket World Cup, having earlier won in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007. For New Zealand, it was their first World Cup Final, having previously lost the semi-final on six occasions between 1975 and 2011.
Host Selection
The ICC announced the hosts for the previous World Cup, the 2011 competition, on April 30, 2006. Australia and New Zealand had also bid for the tournament and a successful Australian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50-50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation.
The Trans-Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to the ICC headquarters at Dubai before the deadline. The ICC so impressed by the efficiency of the Trans-Tasman bid, decided to award the next World Cup, to be held in 2015, to them. Australia and New Zealand last jointly hosted the Cricket World Cup in 1992.
The Tournament
The tournament featured 14 national teams, the same number as the 2011 World Cup, giving associate and affiliate member nations a chance to participate. The format was the same as the 2011 edition: 14 teams take part in the initial stages, divided into two groups of seven; the seven teams play each other once before the top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
On January 29, 2015, ICC reinstated the use of the Super Over for Cricket World Cup Final match if the match finished as a tie. As per ICC regulations, the 10 ICC full member nations qualify for the tournament automatically. Immediately after the 2011 World Cup, it was decided that the next tournament would be reduced to only feature the 10 full members. This was met with heavy criticism, especially from the Ireland who had performed well in 2007 and 2011. The ICC reversed their decision in June 2011 and decided that 14 teams would participate.
At the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee meeting in September 2011, the ICC decided on a new qualifying format. The top two teams of the 2011-13 ICC World Cricket League Championship qualify directly. The remaining six teams join the third and fourth-placed teams of 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Two and the top two teams of 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division III in a 10-team World Cup Qualifier to decide the remaining two places.
On July 9, 2013, as a result of a tied match against the Netherlands, Ireland became the first country to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. On October 4, 2013, Afghanistan qualified for their first Cricket World Cup after beating Kenya to finish in second place behind Ireland. Scotland defeated the United Arab Emirates in the final of the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and both teams qualified for the last two spots in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Allocation of Matches
It was decided on July 30, 2013 that Australia would host 26 matches, while New Zealand got a share of 23 matches in the tournament. There was a tense battle between Melbourne and Sydney to host the final. On July 30, 2013, it was announced that Melbourne would host the final, with Sydney and Auckland hosting the semi-finals.
It was announced that spectators travelling to World Cup matches in New Zealand who would otherwise not be entitled to a visa waiver, would be able to enter New Zealand if they held an Australian visitor visa. This was a special Trans-Tasman Visa Arrangement for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
The opening ceremonies were held separately in Christchurch, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia, on February 12, 2015, two days before the first two matches. Each venue hosted 3 pool stage matches.
The quarter-finals were in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Wellington, the semi-finals were played in Auckland and Sydney, and the final was played in Melbourne. Altogether there were 49 matches in 14 venues, with Australia hosting 26 games and New Zealand hosting 23 games.
The teams, after initially naming a provisional 30-member squad, were required to finalise a 15-member squad for the tournament on or before January 7, 2015.
Group and Knockout Stages
A total of 42 matches were played throughout the group stage of the tournament. The top four teams from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals. New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh qualified to quarter-finals from Pool A. From the Pool B, India, South Africa, Pakistan and West Indies qualified.
In Sri Lanka’s first match, they lost to New Zealand who scored 331/6 (50 overs) against Sri Lanka 233 (46.1 overs). The second match with Afghanistan 232 (49.4 overs) was won scoring 236/6 (48.2 overs). Then, Sri Lanka amassed 332/1 (50 overs) to beat Bangladesh 240 (47 overs). In the match with England, in response to England’s 309/6 (50 overs), Sri Lanka scored 312/1 (47.2 overs) to win. In the final match, Sri Lanka 363/9 (50 overs) beat Scotland215 (43.1 overs).
While the dates and venues were fixed, which match-up they host was subject to change to accommodate the host countries should they qualify. Both hosts qualified for the quarter-finals; Australia played the match on March 20, in Adelaide, and New Zealand played the match on March 21 in Wellington. Since Sri Lanka, the next highest ranked team, progressed to the quarter-finals, they played in Sydney.
New Zealand’s semi-final against South Africa was played on March 24, in Auckland while Australia’s semi-final against India was played on March 26, in Sydney. Both the host nations qualified for the final, where Australia defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets. In the quarter-finals, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand won their matches. The two semi-finals saw New Zealand beat South Africa by 4 wickets and Australia beating India by 95 runs.
Road to the Final
New Zealand finished top of Pool A, winning all six games against Sri Lanka, Scotland, England, Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They faced the West Indies in the quarter-final at the Wellington Regional Stadium, winning by 143 runs. Martin Guptil scored 237 individual runs when New Zealand batted, the highest score at any World Cup and the second highest in ODI matches. In the semi-final at Auckland’s Eden Park by 4 wickets in a rain-affected match against South Africa, with Grant Elliott hitting a six off the penultimate ball to win the game.
Australia finished second in Pool A, losing against New Zealand, having a game cancelled due to rain against Bangladesh and winning their other four matches. In their quarter-final, they defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets at the Adelaide Oval, with Josh Hazlewood taking 4 wickets to help restrict Pakistan to 213 runs. They then qualified for the final by beating defending champions India by 95 runs in the semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Man of the match was Steven Smith, who scored 105 runs for Australia.
Australia entered the final as strong favourites to win. Australia had a strong record at home, winning 24 of their last 26 games and former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden suggested New Zealand would struggle with the larger field size at the MCG, especially after playing all their tournament games on the smaller New Zealand grounds.
Additionally, Australia had a much stronger record at the World Cup, having already won it four times. At the MCG Australia had won their last six matches, although they did lose the last time they played New Zealand there in 2009. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting stated that Australia were overwhelming favourites and one could not find a weakness in the Australian team.
New Zealand’s captain, Brendon McCullum, maintained an aggressive approach throughout the tournament, and said the final match would be no different. Australia’s captain Michael Clarke said the loss against New Zealand during the group stages gave his side the “kick up the backside” they needed.
The match was umpired by Sri Lanka’s Kumara Dharmasena and England’s Richard Kettleborough, both of whom were on the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. Dharmasena was part of the Sri Lanka team which won the 1996 final against Australia, and became the first to feature in the final as a player and as an umpire. Former Sri Lankan captain Ranjan Madugalle was the Match Referee. South Africa’s Marais Erasmus was the TV umpire and former England ODI international cricketer Ian Gould was the fourth umpire.
The World Cup Final
The final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup took place on March 29, 2015 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. The match was played in front of 93,013 spectators, a record crowd for a day of cricket in Australia.
It was the second consecutive time that two co-hosts contested the final: in 2011, India defeated Sri Lanka in the final while a third co-host Bangladesh exited in the pool stages. It was also the first time since 1987 that there was no Asian team in the final.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Brendon McCullum was bowled in the fifth ball of the first over by Mitchell Starc. By the time the second wicket had fallen, that of Martin Guptill, New Zealand were 38/2 from 12 overs.
Kane Williamson was caught and bowled the following over by Mitchell Johnson for 12 runs, followed by a maiden from Josh Hazlewood. By the halfway mark, New Zealand were 93/3 with Grant Elliott on 39 and Ross Taylor on 20. Taylor lasted until the 36th over when he was caught behind off the bowling of James Faulkner for 40.
Faulkner enhanced his wicket maiden by bowling Corey Anderson for a duck, with New Zealand on 150/5 after 36 overs. Clarke caught Luke Ronchi from Starc’s bowling for a duck and Daniel Vettori was dismissed three overs later for eight, leaving New Zealand on 167/7 from 41 overs.
Elliot fell to Faulkner the following over, caught by Brad Haddin for 83, leaving both Matt Henry and Tim Southee at the crease on zero. Both were dismissed in the 45th over, Henry caught by Starc off Johnson and Southee run out. New Zealand’s innings closed with them 183 all out.
Australia’s start was equally ignominious with Aaron Finch being caught and bowled by Trent Boult in the second over for a duck. By the end of the 10th over, Australia were 56/1, with David Warner on 39 and Steve Smith on 13.
Warner was dismissed in the 13th over for 45, being caught by Elliott off the bowling of Henry but Australia remained resolute to end the 20th over on 98/2, Clarke on 21 and the steady Smith on 25.
By the end of the 30th over, Clarke, who received the majority of deliveries, was on 57 while Smith had 47. Clarke was dismissed in the 32nd, bowled by Henry for 74, but by now Australia required just nine runs from 113 deliveries.
Shane Watson came in to support Smith as he struck the winning shot, a four off Henry from the first ball of the 34th over, to win the match by seven wickets.
The match was also the last ODI for Australian captain Michael Clarke (who announced that he would retire before the match), Brad Haddin, and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, the latter two announcing their retirements after the match.
Australian captain Clarke dedicated the victory to Phillip Hughes who had died after being struck on the neck by a bouncer the previous November. The ‘Player of the Match’ was James Faulkner. Mitchell Starc was awarded the ‘Player of the Series’ for his 22 wickets.
Most Runs and Wickets
Martin Guptill of New Zealand was the highest run scorer with 547. Kumar Sangakkara came a close second with 541 runs. The others who reached top 5 included A. B. de Villiers of South Africa (482), Brendon Taylor of Zimbabwe (433) and Shikhar Dhawan of India (412 runs).
Mitchell Starc of Australia captured 22 wickets whilst Trent Boult of New Zealand got 22 wickets. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami of India took 18 and 17 respectively whilst Morne Morkel of South Africa captured 17 wickets.
Controversies
The Pool A match between Australia and England ended when James Anderson was run out straight after James Taylor was given out lbw. Because Taylor’s decision was reviewed and overturned, the ICC later admitted that the ball should have been declared dead and so Anderson was incorrectly given out.
During the Pool B match between Ireland and Zimbabwe, Sean Williams was caught by Ireland’s John Mooney in a close run chase. Mooney was extremely close to the boundary and eight different television replays were inconclusive as to whether his foot had touched the boundary rope. Meanwhile, Williams had walked and the umpires signalled him out.
During the second quarter-final match between India and Bangladesh, Rubel Hossain bowled a full toss to Rohit Sharma who was caught at square-leg. The umpire thought the ball was too high and declared it a no-ball, meaning the batsman was not out.
Media and Promotion
The World Cup has grown as a media event and the ICC sold the rights for broadcasting of the 2015 World Cup for US$2 billion to ESPN Star Sports and Star Sports. According to Strong, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) wanted to make the tournament the most fan-friendly event of its kind and take cricket to a wide range of communities throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Sachin Tendulkar was named by the ICC as the World Cup Ambassador for the second time, after filling the role at the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Tickets for India-Pakistan in Adelaide reportedly sold out within 12 minutes and received an average television audience in India of 14.8% of TV-equipped households. The semi-final, Australia–India, had a higher average rating in India, 15.0%.
The 2015 World Cup came at a time of declining viewing figures for cricket in India. Broadcaster Star Sports claimed that its coverage reached 635 million viewers in India.
An ICC-commissioned report claimed that the tournament was watched by over 1.5 billion people.
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