World Cup 2011 most entertaining

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup held in the sub continent will be remembered as the most entertaining and unpredictable in the history of the event as Sri Lanka emerged runners up for the second successive year.

Their failure to rise to the big occasion seem to be a major concern as they surrendered the final to India by six wickets in a high voltage game worked off at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

This time it was Gautam Ghambir and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who took the game away from Sri Lanka with two sparkling half centuries. In fact Dhoni came closer of completing a century in a World Cup final as he hit the winning runs quite appropriately.

The only consolation for Sri Lanka was the splendid batting performance of Mahela Jayawardena who raced to an unbeaten century while batting under tremendous pressure.

In addition the cricket record books during the course of the event have had to be rewritten as a series of long-standing records, both in the history of the tournament and One Day International cricket were shattered through a series of thrilling matches.

Sri Lanka also played a huge part in making this event a record breaking tournament through a couple of outstanding individual contributions.

The best effort easily came from the speed star Lasith Malinga who became the first player to claim two hat-tricks in ICC Cricket World Cup tournaments following his heroics in the Group 'A' fixture against Kenya at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

In addition the massive partnership of 282 runs between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga for the first wicket against Zimbabwe was a new record for that wicket as they stole the limelight at the Pallekele International Stadium.

Dilshan in fact came very close of winning the Player of the Series Award and finished as the highest run getter in the 14 nation tournament. India's Yuvraj Singh clinched this award while Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named Man of the Match in the final.

Meanwhile India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar also set a world record for the most appearances in One Day Internationals and also became the first man in history to score five or more hundreds at the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Tendulkar also became the first batsman to score 2000 ICC Cricket World Cup runs. Ireland's Kevin O'Brien's 50-ball century against England set a record for the fastest hundred in the history of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Ireland were involved in another piece of history as they recorded the highest successful run chase of 329 for seven in the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Ricky Ponting broke the record for the most match appearances in an ICC Cricket World Cup and also became the first player to be on the winning side in 250 One Day International matches.

The exciting India-England tie in Bengaluru set a new match aggregate record for the ICC Cricket World Cup as 676 runs were scored. Jonathan Trott became the joint record holder, alongside West Indies great Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen, of the fastest player to reach 1,000 One Day International runs.

Meanwhile Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi became the first bowler to capture three successive four wicket hauls in the ICC Cricket World Cup. Paul Stirling became the youngest centurion in the history of the ICC Cricket World Cup, with his hundred against the Netherlands.

The competition is also set to be remembered as the most memorable for spectators who enjoy quick scoring matches. In fact the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was the first in the history to have an average run rate of more than five runs per over - averaging 5.03 per over.

The previous highest was 4.95 runs per over in the 2007 competition in the West Indies, and it is clear how the scoring rate has changed since the early tournaments and the 1975, 1979 and 1983 tournaments were played as 60 overs a side matches, rather than the current 50 overs.

In contrast to the overall trend of an increasing run rate, the average runs per wicket has remained consistent throughout the history of the competition.

This is with the slight exception of 1979, which was played in disappointing weather early in the English summer.