Scandalous Cricket Bits

Maurice Odumbe, playing for Kenya, received a five year ban for taking money from bookmakers.

Cricket Record Makers

The highest partnership resulted in 318 runs. It was between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in 1999.

Did you know?

The 1979 World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy competition to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup, with Sri Lanka and Canada qualifying

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The official event ambassador for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is India's Sachin Tendulkar, promoting various ICC initiatives for the tournament.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

Ajay Sharma, playing for India, was found guilty in 2000 for associating with bookmakers and received a life ban from the sport.

Cricket Record Makers

In 1999, South Africa's Lance Klusener was declared 'Man of the Tournament' at the end of the World Cup Final for his 281 runs and 17 wickets.

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South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 World Cup. The number of teams participating in the event increased from twelve to fourteen.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The International Cricket Council has sold the rights for broadcasting of the 2011 Cricket World Cup for around US$ 2 Billion to ESPN Star Sports and Star Cricket. The tournament will be broadcast all around the world in about 220 countries.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

Saleem Malik, playing for Pakistan, was banned for life in 2000 for actually offering bribes. But it was overturned eight years later.

Cricket Record Makers

The West Indies and Australia are the only nations to have won consecutive titles: West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Did you know?

The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament, a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test-playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The biggest upset of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 thus far has been the defeat of England by Ireland.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

India's Ajay Sharma has received a life ban after he was found guilty in 2000 for associating with bookmakers to fix the results of matches.

Cricket Record Makers

Cricket has always awarded outstanding performances and handed out a Man of the Match award to these players. This has trend continued into the Cricket World Cup. Since 1992, at the end of each World Cup, one player is declared as "Man of the Tournament".

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South Africa was admitted to Test status in the year 1889.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

All matches in the World Cup will be accorded One Day International status.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

Implicated in the Hansie Cronje match fixing scheme, South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs was banned for only 6 months. He did not receive a life ban because even though he agreed to under-perform (to score less than 20) in an ODI, he actually scored 74 off only 53 balls.

Cricket Record Makers

Chaminda Vaas, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath all took more than 20 wickets in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

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The Test-playing nations qualify automatically for the World Cup main event, while the other teams have to go through a series of preliminary qualifying tournaments.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The total number of countries participating in this tournament is 14.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

In 2010, three Pakistan players were accused of involvement in a spot-fixing scheme. They allegedly accepted large sums of money to influence specific events within a match.

Cricket Record Makers

The most runs in a tournament, 673, has been scored by India's Sachin Tendulkar during 2003.

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The 1987 tournament, named the Reliance World Cup after the official Indian sponsors, was held in India and Pakistan. It was the first time that the competition was held outside England.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

Asia won the hosting rights to this year's World Cup by seven votes to three.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

Police in India have smashed four betting syndicates for running illegal gambling cartels during the Cricket World Cup. A total of nine men have been arrested.

Cricket Record Makers

Austalia have walked away as the World Cup Cricket champions four times: 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007. They are the current defending champions too.

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The first Cricket World Cup contest was organised in England in 1975.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

On 7 April 2000, Delhi police revealed they had a recording of a conversation between South African cricketer Hansie Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a representative of an Indian betting syndicate, over match-fixing allegations. Three other players, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje, and Pieter Strydom, were also implicated.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is a running trophy, presented to the winning team since 1999.

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The first ever international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24 and 25 September 1844.

The first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years.

South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The venue for the opening ceremony is Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team will be taking home the prize money of US$ 3 million.

A total of 14 warm up matches will be played between 12 February and 18 February before the World Cup kicks off.

Scandalous Cricket Bits

This World Cup should have also been co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.

The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai.

Cricket Record Makers

Most runs in a tournament belongs to India's Sachin Tendulkar with 673 runs in 2003.

Did you know? Number 21

The World Cup Cricket tournament is the world's fourth largest and most viewed sporting event.

2011 Cricket World Cup: Facts

The World Cup will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup.

The opening ceremony will take place on 17 February, two days prior to the first match.

Stumpy, the elephant, is the official mascot.

The official song, "De Ghuma Ke", is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, and is sung in Hindi, Bangla and Sinha.