30 April 2007

Australia’s Glenn McGrath has been confirmed as the Player of the Tournament at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies.

The tall fast bowler, who made his last international appearance in the final, secured 15 points during the course of the tournament, including three Player of the Match performances.

McGrath’s closest rival for the tournament award was Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene who secured 11 points, while McGrath’s team-mate, opener Matthew Hayden and New Zealand all-rounder Scot Styris finished on nine points each.

The points were allocated by members of the television commentary team at each match with those commentators awarding three points for their choice as the man of the match, second choice getting two points and the third pick receiving one.

Those points were then added up to produce the Player of the Tournament. All matches, including the final, were included in the process.

McGrath claimed 26 wickets making him the most successful bowler in a single ICC Cricket World Cup.

Throughout his career he picked up 71 ICC Cricket World Cup wickets in 39 matches to earn the distinction of being the most successful bowler in the history of the tournament.

McGrath’s team-mate Shaun Tait and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidaran came into the match jointly placed second at 23 wickets apiece, trailing McGrath by two. But Muralidaran went wicketless while Tait bagged one wicket in Australia’s 53-run victory over Sri Lanka.

ICC Cricket World Cup Player of the Tournament

Rank Name Team Points

1 Glenn McGrath Aus 15

2 Mahela Jayawardene SL 11

3 Matthew Hayden Aus 9

4 Scott Styris NZ 9

5 Shaun Tait Aus 8

6= Jacques Kallis SA 7

6= Muttiah Muralidaran SL 7

6= Sanath Jayasuriya SL 7

9= Mohammad Ashraful Bang 6

9= Shane Bond NZ 6

9= Paul Collingwood Eng 6

9= AB de Villiers SA 6


Meanwhile, Jayawardene finished as the second leading run-getter, 111 runs behind Matthew Hayden, with 659 runs. Hayden, who scored the fastest ICC Cricket World Cup century off 66 balls century against South Africa in the first round at St Kitts finished the tournament with 659 runs from 11 games – 14 runs short of India’s Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most runs in a single World Cup of 683.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting was the third leading run-getter with 539 while Scott Styris finished fourth with 499 runs from 10 matches.

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