10 facts you may not know about the Cricket World Cup

The 2019 Cricket World Cup is soon upon us and cricket enthusiasts around the globe are getting ready for the action. This year it will be hosted by both England and Wales, with the first match being played on 30^th June and the final on 14^th July.

Did you know that this will be the fifth time that England and Wales will host the Cricket World Cup? Here are a few other interesting facts that you may not know.

1. The first Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1975.
2. The youngest player to feature in the Cricket World Cup was Canadian Nitish Kumar at age 16, while the oldest player was Nolan Clarke from the Netherlands at age 47.
3. There have been four players to represent more than one country in World Cup history; namely, Kepler Wessels, Eoin Morgan, Ed Joyce and Anderson Cummins. In 2007, Eion Morgan represented Ireland and Ed Joyce represented England. In 2011, the roles reversed which saw Eoin Morgan representing England and Ed Joyce representing Ireland.
4. The Women’s Cricket World Cup is older than the Men’s. The first Women’s World Cup was in 1973, whereas the first Men’s was two years later in 1975.
5. Australia dominated the World Cup between 1999 and 2011, winning the trophy three consecutive times. The team to end their 12-year winning streak was Pakistan, who was also the last team to beat them before their long winning streak.
6. In the 2003 World Cup against Sri Lanka, cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar was suffering from stomach cramps but still managed to put a magnificent innings together scoring 97.
7. Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar bowled the first ever 100mph ball in the 2003 World Cup against England.
8. The 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka started in the most controversial way possible – the coin toss took place twice. Sri Lankan Captain, Kumar Sangakkara said he called heads, however no one heard the call. There was a debate on field between the captains and officials, and the outcome was to do the coin toss over again. Luckily for the Sri Lankan Captain he called heads again and won the toss.
9. Sri Lankan bowler Nuwan Kulasekara bowled the last ball of the 2011 World Cup and also the first ball of the 2015 World Cup.
10. In the 2015 World Cup, UAE’s Captain Mohammad Tauqir was older than the UAE coach, Aaqib Javed. Also, most of the UAE players in the squad were not citizens of the country.

Do you think England have enough in them to take it this year?

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