Recap: 2015 Cricket World Cup
The 2015 World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. This tournament saw Afganistan made their debut in the World Cup. The 2015 world cup followed the format of the previous World Cup. Like the 2011 edition, this was also a 14 team affair. The teams were divided into the following groups.
Group A - Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Afganistan & Scotland. New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh qualified for the quarter-finals.
Group B - India, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Ireland, Zimbabwe & UAE. India, South Africa, Pakistan & West Indies qualified for the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals, South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 9 wickets, India defeated Bangladesh by 109 runs, Australia defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets, and New Zealand defeated West Indies by 143 runs to make it to the semi-finals.
In the first semi-final, New Zealand defeated South Africa by four wickets to qualify for the finals. Australia defeated India by 95 runs in the second semi-final to make it to the finals.
New Zealand's unbeaten run in the 2015 World Cup came to an end in the finals when they lost to Australia by seven wickets. This was Australia's fifth world cup title. Mitchell Starc of Australia was named as the Player of the Tournament.
Batting performances:
417/6 by Australia against Afganistan was the highest team total in the 2015 World Cup.
547 runs scored by Martin Guptill of New Zealand were the most number of runs scored by a player in the 2015 World Cup.
237*scored by Martin Guptill against West Indies was the highest individual score by a player in the tournament.
38 centuries were scored in the tournament. This was the most number of centuries scored in a single edition of the World Cup in the history of the tournament.
4 centuries scored by Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka each were the most number of centuries scored by a player in the 2015 World Cup.
4 half-centuries scored by Steven Smith of Australia, Sean Williams of Zimbabwe, Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan & Brendon McCullum of New Zealand each were the most number of half-centuries scored by a player in the 2015 World Cup.
Bowling performances:
22 wickets taken by Mitchell Starc of Australia and Trent Boult of New Zealand each were the most number of wickets taken by a player in the 2015 World Cup.
7/22 by Tim Southee of New Zealand against England was the best bowling performance by a player in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
7five-wicket hauls were taken in the 2015 World Cup. These were taken by Tim Southee of New Zealand (7/22), Mitchell Starc of Australia (6/28), Trent Boult of New Zealand (5/27), Mitchell Marsh of Australia (5/33), Imran Tahir of South Africa (5/45), Sohail Khan of Pakistan (5/55) & Steven Finn of England (5/71).
Wicketkeeping performances:
16 dismissals by Brad Haddin of Australia were the most number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in the 2015 World Cup.
6 dismissals by Sarfraz Ahmed of Pakistan against South Africa were the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in an innings in the 2015 World Cup.
Fielding performances:
9 catches taken by Rilee Rossouw of South Africa were the most number of catches taken by a player in the 2015 World Cup.
4 catches taken by Soumya Sarkar of Bangladesh against Scotland & by Umar Akmal of Pakistan against Ireland were the most number of catches taken by a player in a single match at the 2015 World Cup.