5 high-profile cricketers who will be missing from action in 2015 World Cup

Since the last Cricket World Cup in 2011 in the sub-continent, many cricketing greats with illustrious records in World Cups have announced their retirement from the game. With that being the case, it will only be normal to expect the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand to suffer perhaps a slight dip in terms of the quality of cricket played.We look here at five players whose World Cup absence will be felt:        

#5 Jacques Kallis

Jacques Kallis’, one of the finest all-rounders the game has ever seen, decision to retire from ODI cricket in July, having retired from Tests at the end of last year, took the whole cricketing world by shock. He had, after all, indicated his strong desire to play ODI cricket till the 2015 World Cup in the hope of finally realizing his ambition of winning the World Cup. That ambition, however, will remain unfulfilled, with Kallis reportedly having announced his retirement because of his record of 81 runs from 7 matches at 11.57 over the last 12 months. Despite the lack of form, however, there is no doubt his absence will be a major blow to South Africa’s chances in the upcoming World Cup, especially with another senior player in Graeme Smith also retiring.

From 36 World Cup matches, Kallis scored 1,148 runs at an average of 45.92. Naturally then, missing a player of his experience and class is going to play a key role in deciding how South Africa fare in Australia and New Zealand.