In 2007, West Indies finally got a chance to host the World Cup and all the matches were played in the Caribbean islands. The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a Super 8.
The biggest upsets in the first round came with tournament favourites India and Pakistan both failing to make it past the group stages. Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked Test playing nation, and Ireland, an associate (non-test playing) nation, made it to the Super 8s.
The tournament was also marred by the mysterious death of Pakistan coach Bob Wolmer a day after his team’s defeat to Ireland - which put them out of the running for the World Cup. Jamaican police first announced that the death was due to manual strangulation but later confirmed that he died from ‘natural causes.’
From the teams that had moved to the Super Eight, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa won through to the semi-finals. Mahela Jayawardene produced an innings of pure class and Sri Lanka claimed their rightful place in the final brushing aside New Zealand, who have reached the semi-finals five times and never gone further.
The second semi-final turned into a cakewalk for Australia as they cruised into their fourth successive final. Their potent pace attack steamrolled South Africa claiming five wickets inside ten overs and there was no way back. Shaun Tait earned a career-best four for 39 and then the Australia batsmen knocked off the target inside 32 overs.
In the final, Sri Lanka after losing the toss were undone by Adam Gilchrist’s blitz, who scored 149 off just 104 balls, registering the highest individual score of the final, to take Australia to 281 for 4 in 38 overs in a rain-curtailed match. Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya added 116 for the second wicket and kept the contest alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka’s chances faded away.
Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka’s innings and the end of the 33rd over, they were still trailing in the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs. The umpire then suspended the match due to bad light and decided to come back the next day and play out the remaining over with Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries. Skipper Jayawardene felt there was no need to return the following day and the last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added nine runs - giving Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method.
