Jersey of the World Cup: Papua New Guinea
As is almost always the case in ICC tournaments, the Associate Nations donned the most exotic jerseys. And despite stiff contest from both Scotland and Namibia, there is little doubt that the Barramundis stood out in their bright sunset orange, complete with a full-fledged dragon!
Dud of the World Cup: The format
Aah, where to begin? Six teams arrived at the T20 World Cup from the Qualifiers – only to realise that they would be able to play two Full Members in another Qualifier. PNG and the Netherlands might have been the best two teams in the Qualifiers, but they did not get to play any of the T20 World Cup semi-finalists.
Thank goodness they are changing it.
Over of the World Cup: Curtis Campher vs Netherlands
Many contenders here, from Shaheen Shah Afridi to Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Ruben Trumpelmann to Adil Rashid and beyond, but four wickets in four balls is a feat too rare to overlook. In case you have forgotten, the ill-fated quartet was Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards, and Roelof van der Merwe.
Exotic names of the World Cup: Namibian bowling attack
The final featured four Mitchells, two from either side, but that pales in comparison when pitted against a Namibian XI consisting of Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Helao Nafidi ‘Pikky’ Ya France. Ruben Trumpelmann sounds almost boring.
Star of the World Cup: The coin
Of the 45 matches in the tournament, 30 (two-thirds) were won by the side winning the toss. If one considers only night matches, the counts read 18 out of 26 – a similar percentage. There was little that could be done about it this time, but the organisers may look for a tweak.
Quote of the World Cup: Matt Cross
India’s defeat against Pakistan and New Zealand, followed by New Zealand’s against Pakistan, forced the entire Indian fanbase to cheer for Scotland, Namibia, and Afghanistan against New Zealand in search of an elusive ‘what if?’
So, when Chris Greaves ran in to bowl, Scotland wicketkeeper Matt Cross chirped ‘whole of India’s behind you, Greavo!’ If only…
Yuvraj Singh of the World Cup: Josh Hazlewood
For over a decade, Yuvraj Singh remained the only cricketer to feature in the winning side of the final of all three Men’s World Cups – Under-19, T20, and 50-over. Last night, Josh Hazlewood became the second. Mitchell Marsh did feature in all three tournaments as well, but was not part of the XI in the 2015 World Cup final.