5 cricketers who have won the World Cup without playing a single match
Winning the World Cup is special for any cricketer. It is the greatest honour for any player representing their country at the highest level.
While several players have made their mark on the World Cup over the years, there are some that have lifted the trophy without playing a single game. We look at 5 cricketers that won the World Cup without playing a single game in the tournament.
#5 Tom Curran (2019 World Cup)
The England cricket team put an end to years of waiting for the World Cup trophy in 2019 when they beat New Zealand in the final at Lord’s. One player that wasn’t part of the playing XI in the final was 25-year-old Tom Curran.
In fact, he didn’t play a single game in the tournament. Having played 17 ODIs before the World Cup, Curran was drafted into the England squad following some decent performances in the lead up to cricket’s biggest competition.
England, however, chose to depend on the likes of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Wood and Liam Plunkett in the tournament. While he may be happy about his team winning the trophy, Tom Curran would want surely have wanted to play a bigger role in the team’s campaign.
#4 Mitchell Johnson (2007 World Cup)
Given the pace attack that the Australian team had in their ranks during their third consecutive World Cup in 2007, it is no surprise that Mitchell Johnson, still early in his career, did not make the playing XI.
Facing competition from the likes of Glenn McGrath, Stuart Clark and Shaun Tait, Johnson had to contend with a place on the bench.
The Australian team would go on to dominate every game in the tournament and would win the final against Sri Lanka comfortably to take their fifth World Cup home as Mitchell Johnson watched on from the sidelines.
The left-arm pacer would play a much greater role in the 2011 World Cup, however. He picked up 10 wickets in 7 games in that edition, at an economy rate of a little more that 4 runs an over. The Aussies would end up crashing out at the quarter-final stage to India: their first defeat in World Cup Cricket in 15 years.
Mitchell Johnson was also Australia's second-highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets in their 2015 World Cup-winning campaign when they beat New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the final.