User:Sam Vimes/Sandbox13

Opening week
The tournament began on 13 March with the hosts West Indies taking on a Pakistan team without its two leading bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar, who were involved in a drug-test controversy at the time. The hosts got off to a good start, winning by 54 runs. The following days included several non-ODI teams playing games. Scotland and Bermuda suffered opening losses by more than 200 runs, with Ricky Ponting making his fourth World Cup century against Scotland to tie the record of most World Cup centuries. Scotland and Bermuda became the third and fourth team to be beaten by more than 200 runs in World Cups, but in Group D Ireland debuted at the World Cup with a tie against Zimbabwe, who had reached the Super Six in 2003 but only had one player remaining from that squad.

On 16 March, the next clash between Test nations occurred, England taking on New Zealand in Group C. New Zealand beat England, forcing the latter to beat Kenya and Canada in order to qualify. In Group A, South Africa broke records against Netherlands. Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes in an over off Daan van Bunge, the first batsman to do so in an ODI, South Africa's 18 sixes was a World Cup record, and so was Mark Boucher's 21-ball fifty.

The following day was dubbed by BBC's journalist in Kingston, Paresh Soni, as "the day the minnows bit back". First, in Group B, Bangladesh celebrated their fifth victory against a top-eight side to beat India in the opening match. Bowling India out for 191, they chased the target with five wickets and nine balls to spare, leaving India to win the last two games in order to qualify for the Super Eight stage. A couple of hours later, Ireland completed their "underdog triumph", eliminating Pakistan from Group D with a three-wicket win. It was Ireland's third win in their tenth ODI, the other two wins coming against fellow ICC Associate members Scotland and Bermuda.

Second week
Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer was found dead the following morning, casting a shadow over the entire tournament, with Jamaican police eventually launching a murder investigation. In June, however, media reports indicated that detectives from Scotland Yard had found no indication of a murder, and that Woolmer died of natural causes. Players wore black armbands and flags were flown at half mast during the days after his death.

The tournament did, however, progress. England and Australia dispatched Canada and Netherlands on 18 March, though media stories concentrated on several England players breaking curfew, including Andrew Flintoff, who was stripped of the vice-captaincy and dropped from the team. The following day, India recovered from the loss to Bangladesh by defeating Bermuda by 257 runs, breaking the record of heaviest margin of victory in an ODI, the highest World Cup team total, the highest List A total in the West Indies, and also tying South Africa's three-day-old record of team sixes. They still needed to beat Sri Lanka to qualify, however. Records weren't broken in Jamaica, where West Indies beat Zimbabwe by three wickets and three overs to spare as they qualified from Group D.

Groups A and C concluded their second round of matches on 20 March, with South Africa and New Zealand registering large wins over Scotland and Kenya respectively. This left Australia and South Africa as sure qualifiers from Group A before their match four days later, while New Zealand were the only certain team in Group C. Sri Lanka qualified from Group B the following day after bowling Bangladesh out for 112 in a 198-run victory, Bangladesh' heaviest defeat in three and a half years.

Pakistan departed the World Cup with a win over Zimbabwe, with Imran Nazir's 160 breaking the record for highest List A innings in the West Indies, though the team had lost its coach and also lost its captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, who announced his retirement from One-day International cricket aas well as his resignation from the captaincy of Pakistan.

The following day saw Boucher's one-week-old fastest fifty stricken from the record books, Brendon McCullum beating it by one ball as New Zealand defeated Canada by 114 runs to go through Group C undefeated, while Scotland were bowled out for 136 by Netherlands - only five more than they managed against Australia - as Netherlands took their second World Cup victory in the final game for both sides. This was Scotland's eighth successive World Cup loss, though the team had finished second in the World Cricket League tournament for ICC Associate qualifiers two months before the World Cup.

Three days remained of the group stage; the first group to finish was Group D in Jamaica, with West Indies topping the group and carrying two points forward to the Super Eight after defeating fellow qualifiers Ireland by eight wickets. Meanwhile, in Group B, India fell to Sri Lanka for a 69-run defeat, with Muttiah Muralitharan named Man of the Match after his haul of three wickets, Virender Sehwag, M. S. Dhoni and Zaheer Khan. Sri Lanka qualified for the Super Eights with two points, while India's hopes were left in the hands of the side from Bermuda, who could help India with a win over Bangladesh two days later. It was not to happen, however, as Bangladesh won a severely rain-shortened match by seven wickets, earning qualification from the group stage for the first time in three attempts. England made it forward from Group C on 24 March, bowling Kenya out for 177 in a seven-wicket win, while in Group A Australia and South Africa fought for a head start in the Super Eights. Australia came out on top by 83 runs after posting a total of 377 for six, buoyed by Matthew Hayden's 66-ball hundred, the fastest in World Cup history. Hayden was named a honorary citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis for the feat, as was Gibbs for his six sixes.

Super Eights
The top two teams in each first-round group moved on to a "super eight" stage which was scored as a complete round robin. Each of the eight teams played only six new matches, rather than seven, as each group's two representatives carried forward their result against each other rather than playing again.

Antigua and Guyana leg
After one day without World Cup cricket, the tournament resumed on 27 March, with two matches in three days for West Indies in the newly constructed Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda. It was not to be a good time for the hosts. The stadium was barely half-filled for their clash with Australia, where they were bowled out for 219 in a 103-run defeat, and New Zealand then bowled them out for 177 two days later in a seven-wicket win. West Indies fell to fifth in the table, while Australia topped with two comfortable wins. Matches were also held in Providence Stadium in Guyana, where South Africa drew level with Sri Lanka in a one-wicket win, despite Lasith Malinga becoming the first bowler to take four wickets in four balls in international cricket, and England defeated Ireland by 48 runs in the clash between the sixth- and seventh-placed sides on the table.

Australia continued their good form in Antigua with a ten-wicket win over Bangladesh, and remained as one of two sides with an unbeaten record. West Indies, meanwhile, were bowled out for the third time in six days, losing by 113 runs to Sri Lanka in Guyana, and now required wins in their last three games to end with a positive record. Sri Lanka briefly drew level with New Zealand, but only until a Fleming hundred had taken care of a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh.

This was the Easter week, and there was no cricket on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday; however, before that two-day break, South Africa defeated Ireland by seven wickets in another rain-interrupted match, while England put on 100 in the last 16.3 overs only to lose by two runs against Sri Lanka after Ravinder Bopara was bowled on the last ball of the game. Sri Lanka advanced to second place ahead of New Zealand on net run rate, though Australia and New Zealand, while tied on points, had a game in hand on Sri Lanka.

Three games concluded the Antigua and Guyana leg of the World Cup; Bangladesh completed a 67-run win over South Africa, South Africa's first loss to Bangladesh in international cricket, which left South Africa two points adrift of the league leaders. This became more pronounced as Australia and New Zealand preserved their unbeaten records, Australia beating England by seven wickets and New Zealand beating Ireland by 129 runs.

Barbados and Grenada leg
West Indies played their fourth match of the Super Eight stage in Grenada, and were, for once, not bowled out before the 50 overs. Regardless, their total of 289 for nine was 67 runs short of South Africa's, leaving England and West Indies two wins behind the qualifying positions. England cut their deficit down to two points after a four-wicket defeat of Bangladesh, though Shakib Al Hasan's unbeaten 57 was nearly double that of England's highest scorer, and in Grenada New Zealand finally tasted defeat after Kumar Sangakkara batted Sri Lanka through to a six-wicket win. Sri Lanka eked past New Zealand on net run rate, holding an advantage of 0.08 of a point, though both teams trailed leaders Australia by a win after they defeated Ireland by nine wickets in Barbados. This also secured Australia qualification for the next round, while Ireland were eliminated.

New Zealand joined them the following day, taking a five-wicket win over South Africa in Grenada. This left England trailing South Africa in fourth place by one win, with South Africa's final game being against England in Barbados three days later. Before that, however, Ireland had a final surprise, posting 243 for seven – their highest total in ODIs to date – in a 74-run win over Bangladesh. Ireland's second win over a Test nation qualified Ireland for the ICC ODI Championship table, where they were ranked tenth ahead of Zimbabwe and Kenya following the tournament. Both teams were now eliminated from semi-final contention.

Australia may have qualified, but still kept on winning. Nathan Bracken's four-wicket-haul ensured he gained Man of the Match honours in Australia's seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka, where Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden made their 40th ODI partnership of more than 50 runs, a record. Sri Lanka had also qualified before this game, however, thanks to South Africa's defeat two days earlier. Thus, the final spot was between South Africa and England, with West Indies having theoretical chances to sneak in. Those theoretical chances relied on South Africa losing, however, and with England bowled out for 154 – the fourth-lowest total by a Test nation in the tournament during a full 50-over match – South Africa made it past the total with more than 60 % of their overs to spare.

The final matches were thus tussles for position on the league table, and chances to determine the semi-final opposition. Sri Lanka gained run rate on New Zealand with their eight-wicket win over Ireland, though unless New Zealand were to beat Australia by a huge margin, the two would face each other in the semi-final. Instead, New Zealand were crushed by 215 runs in the face of a total of 348 for six, with Matthew Hayden notching up his third hundred of the tournament, joining Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly in that club. New Zealand thus ended up third on the league table, beaten by Sri Lanka on net run rate. West Indies gained some consolation with a win over Bangladesh and 300 against England, but failed to defend that total, as a hundred from Kevin Pietersen saw England reach the goal in the final over with a wicket to spare. England thus finished fifth and West Indies sixth.

Teams depicted in green backgrounds qualified for the semi-finals.

Table
Abbreviations:


 * Super 8 Matchup by Teams

Semi-finals
Australia repeated the feat from 1999 by beating South Africa to reach the final, thus becoming the first team to qualify for four successive finals. They bowled South Africa out for a total of 149, their lowest World Cup score ever, and in the chase, Matthew Hayden made 41, becoming the second batsman in the history of the Cup to make 600 in a single tournament. Meanwhile, Glenn McGrath's three wickets took him to 25, the most in a single cup.

Final
This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat – the sides previously met in the 1996 World Cup final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia has won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss. The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance and Australia's sixth, their fourth in a row. Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Adam Gilchrist played an incredible innings of 149 - the highest for any batsman in a World Cup final - to give Australia an imposing total going in at to break. The partnership between Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden worth 172 was the highest in a World Cup final; however, Hayden fell  for 38, 14 runs short of breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in a World Cup.

While Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka's chance's slowly washed way. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the culmination of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light. While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ricky Ponting agreeing to play only spinners. Umpires later apologized for their error, and that the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs. During the last three overs, Sri Lanka added nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory via the D/L method, as Sri Lanka had batted two overs fewer than Australia.

Australia won the tournament undefeated, concluding the Cup with a streak of 29 World Cup games without a loss. Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named 'Player of the Series'.