Best bowling figures at the ICC Cricket World Cup
Playing Namibia in Potchefstroom in an ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 game, Glenn McGrath took the best-ever figures in the tournament: 7/15.
McGrath is one of just four men to have taken seven-wicket hauls across the 43-year history of the tournament.
To celebrate the anniversary, we look back at these four performances.
Glenn McGrath7/15 v Namibia (2003)
Glenn McGrath’s ICC Cricket World Cup record figures came in Australia’s penultimate group game of the 2003 edition against Namibia.
After racking up a score of 301/6, Australia ran through Namibia’s batting line-up, shooting them out for just 45 runs for a 256-run win.
It was McGrath who set the ball rolling in the first over when he dismissed Namibia opener Jan-Berrie Burger.
Six more wickets followed in his seven overs, as he finished with 7/15, including four maidens.
Andy Bichel7/20 v England (2003)
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Just four days after McGrath’s feat, his teammate Andy Bichel did the same against England in Port Elizabeth.
It was during their final group game that Bichel took all but one of the wickets to fall as England finished on 204/8. Australia went on to win the game by two wickets.
He tore through the England line-up, picking up the wickets of Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles.
Tim Southee7/33 v England (2015)
Tim Southee's spectacular display of swing bowling sends England packing for 123 in Match 9 of CWC15 in Wellington on February 20.
The fourth – and most recent – man to take seven wickets in an innings at an ICC Cricket World Cup game was New Zealand’s Tim Southee.
England were the opponents in Wellington, and he rattled their batting line-up to help dismiss them for just 123, finishing with 7/33, before New Zealand won by eight wickets.
He clean bowled openers Ian Bell and Moeen Ali, before picking up the wickets of James Taylor, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, who scored a total of eight runs between them.
Winston Davis7/51 v Australia (1983)
Not only did Winston Davis become the first man to take a seven-wicket haul at an ICC Cricket World Cup, those were also the best ODI figures at the time.
What made the feat even more remarkable is that it was his World Cup debut.
Davis’ wickets came in 10.3 overs (matches were 60-overs-a-side at the time), as reigning champions West Indies got their first win of the tournament against Australia.
His record stood for almost 20 years before McGrath bettered it in 2003.
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