Cricket World Cup: The Tournament That Was

Tournament casualties

Where to start? England (Nasser Hussain), South Africa (Shaun Pollock) and Pakistan (Waqar Younis) all lost their captains, for different reasons. Pakistan (Richard Pybus), West Indies (Roger Harper), Kenya (Sandeep Patil) and Bangladesh (Mohsin Kamal) got rid of their coaches. On the player front, Allan Donald and Jonty Rhodes (South Africa), Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka), Henry Olonga and Andy Flower (Zimbabwe) waved farewell, while Shane Warne's (Australia) career is in limbo following a positive drugs test.

Most costly faux pas

As the rain turns into a downpour, Mark Boucher pats Muttiah Muralitharan to midwicket and heads for the dressing room, winning the group for South Africa and eliminating Sri Lanka. Actually not, for the scores are only tied on Duckworth-Lewis, and the disbelieving hosts are out of the competition. Heroes to zero in one ball. Just like 1999.

Finest individual innings

Stephen Fleming's 134 not out off 132 balls in New Zealand's winning chase against South Africa was high-class, if not chanceless. And Sachin Tendulkar's 75-ball 98 against Pakistan at Centurion was the Indian at his best; his shot off Shoaib Akhtar on 42 – back on to his toes, punching the ball through the V on the offside, balance and timing perfect, vertical bat – the pick of the tournament's boundaries.

Ball of the tournament

Difficult to split Zimbabwe's Grant Flower, bowling left-arm spin wide of the crease to Tendulkar (pictured) on 81, and Brett Lee's 99.5mph full-length delivery to Marvan Atapattu. To hit Tendulkar's off-stump when he's on 81 is some feat. As it is to induce the technically sound Atapattu not to react before his off-stump is removed.

The big lament

South Africa's losing innings of 275 against West Indies batting second at Newlands was put into perspective by subsequent totals at night at Newlands. The hosts also batted second under lights at Kingsmead and twice failed to beat D/L. Their absence from the Super Sixes took the fizz out of the tournament.

Take a bow

Henry Olonga and Andy Flower for wearing black armbands to mourn the "death of democracy" in Zimbabwe.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, knocked out by a Sri Lankan bouncer, returning from hospital to hit 47 classy runs for West Indies.

Australia's Adam Gilchrist for "walking" when given not out, Brett Lee for the sheer energy and zest he brings to the game.

For the record

MOST RUNS: 669 S Tendulkar (India); 441 S Ganguly (India); 384 H Gibbs (SA); 382 M Atapattu (Sri Lanka); 351 A Gilchrist (Aus); 332 A Flower (Zim); 326 A Symonds (Aus); 321 S Fleming (NZ); S Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka); 293 C Wishart (Zim); 291 M Hayden (Aus).

HIGHEST SCORES: 172* C Wishart (Zim v Holland); 152 S Tendulkar (India v Nam); 143* A Symonds (Aus v Pak); 143 H Gibbs (SA v NZ); 141 S Styris (NZ v Sri Lanka).

MOST WICKETS: 23 C Vaas (Sri Lanka); 20 B Lee (Aus); 18 G McGrath (Aus), Z Khan (India); 17 S Bond (NZ), M Muralitharan (Sri Lanka); 16 V Drakes (West Indies), J Srinath (India); 15 A Bichel (Aus); 14 J Oram (NZ).

BEST ANALYSIS: 7-15 G McGrath (Aus v Nam); 7-20 A Bichel (Aus v Eng); 6-23 A Nehra (Ind v Eng), S Bond (NZ v Aus); 6-25 C Vaas (Sri Lanka v Bang); 5-24 C Obuya (Ken v SL).

MOST DISMISSALS: 20 A Gilchrist (Aus); 17 (15ct, 2st) K Sangakkara (Sri Lanka); 15 (14ct, 1st) R Dravid; 12 (8ct, 4st) K Otieno (Kenya); 11 M Boucher (SA), R Ponting (Aus).

ONLY UNBEATEN TEAM: Australia (10 wins).