Top 10 bowling performances in World Cup history

That top bowlers win you matches is no secret in cricketing circles. Over the years, some World Cup matches have been sparkled up by the way one bowler has taken the opposition by the scruff and shaken them into submission.Picking 10 superlative bowling performances in World Cup history isn’t the easiest of tasks and it is hard to be objective about it. In other words, Glenn McGrath wouldn’t make it to the list in spite of holding the record for the best bowling spell in World Cup history, reason being, it would be unfair to call that spell against Namibia better than Shane Warne’s spell against South Africa in ‘that match’ at Edgbaston.Similarly, spells against top Test playing nations, in tournaments, where they had played really well, should always justifiably rank higher than other spells. Here, we try to pick a few amazing spells, those which had a lot more significance than the digit in the wickets column.

#10 Shane Warne - 4/29 vs South Africa (1999)

This spell makes it to the list over a lot of other options for the sheer significance and impact of the spell in one of the greatest games of all time, leave alone the World Cup. Shane Warne picked up match figures of 4/29 in 10 overs in the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

More importantly, it were the wickets of Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten after a solid opening partnership, followed by those of Hansie Cronje, the skipper and eventually Jacques Kallis at 175-6 to turn the match around all over again. The match ended in a tie and Australia went through to the final based on their league match win over South Africa.