2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Death of Bob Woolmer
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead on 18 March 2007, one day after his team's defeat to Ireland put them out of the running for the World Cup. Jamaican police performed an autopsy which was deemed inconclusive. The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Further investigation revealed the cause of death was "manual strangulation", and that the investigation would be handled as a murder. After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was murdered, and confirmed that he died from natural causes. In November 2007, an open verdict was returned.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
The 2007 World Cup organisers were criticised early on for being over-commercialised and, in particular, the generally smaller crowds have been blamed on the ICC's security restrictions on things such as outside food, signs, replica kits, and musical instruments, despite Caribbean cricketing customs, as well as the authorities being accused of "running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitising it out of existence". Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns. The ICC were also condemned for high prices of tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognised the problem but said it was the local organisers' fault. However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organisers easing restrictions. Although it did not meet the target of US$42 million, the US$32 million revenue from ticket sales was the highest of any Cricket World Cup and double that of the previous World Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
The World Cup was also criticised by the BCCI for its format because India failed to move on from the group stage after losing two of their three matches. The BCCI later claimed it would see to it that the ICC alter its format for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The elimination of both India and Pakistan also caused a large exodus of subcontinental fans from the Caribbean, and removed the prospect of an India vs Pakistan Super Eights match, generally considered one of the most revenue generating and electric matches in the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
The tournament was also criticised as being too long. At 6 weeks, it was the same length as the 2003 World Cup, but longer than the 5-week 1999 World Cup and the 4-week 1996 World Cup. The famous West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding also criticised the qualification process for the 2007 World Cup. Holding expressed doubts over the benefit to less-established teams of turning up and being heavily defeated.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
However, former Scotland captain George Salmond claims that the opportunity to play one-day cricket against the bigger teams is invaluable for smaller teams such as his own, and questioned the validity of Holding's statements. The majority of the experts and players participating in the tournament backed up the smaller teams taking part in the World Cup. This was further backed up with Ireland and Bangladesh making the Super 8s and being competitive and sportsmanlike throughout the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
Further criticism was generated by the confusion at the end of the final match: the umpires announced that play was suspended due to bad light, which caused the Australian team to erupt in celebration as the scoreboard and official announcements declared Australia the winners. However, the umpires incorrectly insisted that the game was only suspended and not completed, and that 3 overs remained to be played, so in farcical light conditions, Sri Lanka batted out the remaining 3 overs following a gentleman's agreement between the two captains.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Criticism
The umpires and the ICC apologised for the unnecessary situation and cited it as an unnecessary fundamental error due to the pressure of the situation. In June the ICC announced that the officials involved—onfield umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and match referee Jeff Crowe—would all be suspended from the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Controversies, Preparation problems
A number of preparation problems surfaced before the start of the World Cup. Some of the venues were not complete by the opening ceremony on 11 March 2007. At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns. At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm-up matches due to accreditation problems. Additionally, South Africa and Australia both expressed concerns over practice facilities.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Media coverage
The World Cup had grown as a media event with each tournament. The sponsorship and television rights that were awarded primarily to cover the 2003 and 2007 World Cups raised over US$550 million. The 2007 World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to a viewing audience estimated at more than two billion viewers and was expected to generate more than 100,000 unique visitors to the West Indies travelling solely for the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Media coverage
The 2007 Cricket World Cup featured an orange, anthropomorphic raccoon-like creature named "Mello" as its mascot. It was announced during matches that Mello had no race, species, age or gender—it was an attitude, the attitude of the young people of the West Indies. The official song for the World Cup was "The Game of Love and Unity" by Jamaican-born Shaggy, Bajan entertainer Rupee, and Trinidadian Fay-Ann Lyons.


2007 Cricket World Cup, Media coverage
The 2007 tournament recorded the highest ticket sales for a Cricket World Cup, selling more than 672,000. Attendance leading into the semi-finals for the 2007 World Cup was 403,000, an average of 8,500 supporters per match.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final
The final of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was played on 28 April 2007 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 53 runs (under the Duckworth–Lewis method) to win their 4th World Cup and 3rd in succession.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Road to the Final
Australia reached the final by defeating South Africa by 7 wickets, while Sri Lanka reached the final by defeating New Zealand by 81 runs in the semi-finals.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details
This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat – the sides previously met in the 1996 World Cup Final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia has won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss. The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance and Australia's sixth, their fourth in a row.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details
Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Adam Gilchrist's score of 149 – the highest in a World Cup final – helped give Australia an imposing total of 281.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details
Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya added 116 for the second wicket, before falling with the score at 123 and 145 respectively. Despite the regular loss of wickets, Sri Lanka managed to maintain a run rate of over 6 an over. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the culmination of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details
While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ricky Ponting agreeing to play only spinners. Umpires later apologized for their error, and that the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory via the DL method, as Sri Lanka had batted 2 overs fewer than Australia.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details
Australia won the tournament undefeated, a streak of 29 World Cup games without a loss. Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named 'Player of the Series'.


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details, Scorecard
Fall of wickets: 1–172 (Hayden, 22.5 ov), 2–224 (Gilchrist, 30.3 ov), 3–261 (Ponting, 35.4 ov), 4–266 (Watson, 36.2 ov)


2007 Cricket World Cup Final, Details, Scorecard
Fall of wickets: 1–7 (Tharanga, 2.1 ov), 2–123 (Sangakkara, 19.5 ov), 3–145 (Jayasuriya, 22.6 ov), 4–156 (Jayawardene, 25.5 ov), 5–188 (Dilshan, 29.6 ov), 6–190 (Silva, 30.1 ov), 7–194 (Arnold, 31.5 ov), 8–211 (Malinga, 33.6 ov)


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A
Group A of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was one of the four groups that was at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The matches took place between the 14–24 March. The group consisted of Australia, Netherlands, South Africa and Scotland.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Team overview
AUSTRALIASquadCaptain: Ricky PontingWorld Cup win-loss record: 40–17 (1 tie)World Cup best performance: Champions (1987, 1999, 2003)ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 80–28 (1 tie, 5 no results) Against South AfricaAt World Cup: 1–1 (1 tie)ODIs since 2003 CWC: 5–4 (1 tie, 1 no result)Against ScotlandAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst NetherlandsAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Team overview
SOUTH AFRICASquadCaptain: Graeme SmithWorld Cup win-loss record: 19–9 (2 ties)World Cup best performance: Semi-finals (1992, 1999) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 51–31 (1 tie, 5 no results) Against AustraliaAt World Cup: 1–1 (1 tie)ODIs since 2003 CWC: 4–5 (1 tie, 1 no result)Against ScotlandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst NetherlandsAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Team overview
SCOTLANDSquadCaptain: Craig WrightWorld Cup win-loss record: 0–5World Cup best performance: Round 1 (1999) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 7–8 Against AustraliaAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst South AfricaAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst NetherlandsAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: 2–0


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Team overview
NETHERLANDSSquadCaptain: Luuk van TroostWorld Cup win-loss record: 1–10World Cup best performance: Round 1 (1996, 2003) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 6–6 (1 no result) Against AustraliaAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst South AfricaAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst ScotlandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: 0–2


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Australia vs Scotland
Australia were put in to bat and made the seventh-highest total in World Cup history, It was nevertheless the third-lowest total in Scotland's ODI history and the third time a team had won by more than 200 runs in World Cup cricket. Ricky Ponting became the leading Australian run-scorer in World Cups, second overall only to Sachin Tendulkar. In reply, Colin Smith made his first ODI half-century on World Cup debut, and only ten men batted for Scotland; John Blain, one of two players in the eleven with previous World Cup experience, suffered an injury and was absent.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Netherlands vs South Africa
In a match shortened to 40 overs due to wet pitch conditions, South Africa still managed the third 200-run victory at this World Cup, scoring runs at a rate faster than that recorded by Sri Lanka when they set the world record number of runs in a One-day International in July 2006 against this Dutch team. Though Dutch wicket-keeper Jeroen Smits caught Abraham de Villiers for nought in the first over, and South Africa had made four runs in the first five overs, things went South Africa's way from then on.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Netherlands vs South Africa
Herschelle Gibbs hit Daan van Bunge for six sixes in the 30th over, a first in ODI cricket, Mark Boucher scored a fifty off 21 deliveries, a World Cup record and two balls off his own South African record, and added another 25 from ten balls before time was up. South Africa also became the first team to make three century partnerships in a One-day International, and hit a World Cup record of eighteen sixes.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Netherlands vs South Africa
For the Netherlands, Tim de Leede, Daan van Bunge and Luuk van Troost conceded 163 runs in their 12 overs between them, and when batting, the Dutch team's only professional Ryan ten Doeschate was their only man to pass 25, making 57 before he was run out as one of three Dutch batsmen to suffer this fate. Shaun Pollock's six overs cost four runs, the most economical spell of the World Cup thus far.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Australia vs Netherlands
The fourth 200-run win in ten games of the Cup thus far, with Australia becoming the first team to win consecutive One-day Internationals by 200 runs or more. Glenn McGrath became the second bowler in World Cup history to take 50 wickets at the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Australia vs Netherlands
Australia chose to bat first, losing three wickets by the 20-over mark, with Tim de Leede having both openers caught, but Michael Clarke and Brad Hodge set a World Cup record fourth-wicket partnership with 204, and Australia eventually ended on 358 for five. Hodge's last 28 balls yielded 73 runs. Netherlands' openers Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers made 36 at nearly a run-a-ball in the first six overs, but Nathan Bracken had Reekers caught for 25, and four more wickets followed for ten runs. After van Bunge and de Leede had put on 40 for the sixth wicket, Glenn McGrath and Brad Hogg ended the innings.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Scotland vs South Africa
68% of South Africa's total was made up of boundaries, as Graeme Smith and A. B. de Villiers thumped runs and South Africa qualified for the Super Eights, and the result also confirmed Australia's place. South Africa bowled first, and after Fraser Watts and Majid Haq made it through the first ten overs, South Africa took a wicket every five overs to reduce Scotland to 84 for five after 30 overs. Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt took the wickets, but also got hit for runs by Dougie Brown, John Blain and Paul Hoffmann as Scotland posted their highest-ever World Cup total of 186.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Scotland vs South Africa
Nevertheless, South Africa made their way to the total in half the required time, as Graeme Smith and A. B. de Villiers hit at a rate of more than eight an over. Scotland turned to their spin bowlers in the thirteenth over, with Majid Haq and Glenn Rogers taking three wickets, though they still cost nearly eight an over between them. Justin Kemp hit the winning runs with a six off Rogers.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Australia vs South Africa
Matthew Hayden broke the record for fastest World Cup century, taking 66 balls to notch up the hundred, and when he got out two balls later the run rate was still more than seven an over. A 161-run partnership between Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke followed, with Ponting ending on 91 and Clarke on 92, and though Andrew Hall took wickets near the end, Australia finished on 377 for six.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group A, Australia vs South Africa
South Africa batted through the first twenty overs without loss, as Abraham de Villiers and Graeme Smith took the opening bowlers on. De Villiers got out eight short of what would have been his first One-day International century, and a few overs later Smith retired hurt; he returned after Brad Hogg and Glenn McGrath had taken two wickets each and South Africa needed 118 in 55 balls. However, he got out four balls later, and the remainder of the batting order got out in single figures.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 4th Match: Bermuda v Sri Lanka, 15 March
Bermuda's World Cup debut became the second-heaviest defeat at the World Cup, 40 runs worse than Scotland's defeat the day before. After Sri Lanka won the toss and batted, they "capitalise[d] on the spate of loose deliveries" served up by Bermuda's bowlers, according to Cricinfo writer Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, Bermuda did take six wickets, all caught, while Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva all collected half-centuries. Kevin Hurdle took two wickets for Bermuda, but his second over lasted 14 balls due to no-balls and wides.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 4th Match: Bermuda v Sri Lanka, 15 March
Bermuda fell to 20 for four after Malinga had taken three wickets in three overs, ending with bowling figures of three for 10. With the seven first men down, Lionel Cann paired up with Delyone Borden for a 25-run partnership, the largest of the innings; Farveez Maharoof removed both before Muttiah Muralitharan had Dwayne Leverock lbw to end the innings for 78, Bermuda's lowest total ever in One-day Internationals.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 8th Match: Bangladesh v India, 17 March
Bangladesh, who went home from the 2003 World Cup without a single win and had been ranked tenth and bottom of all the ten Test-playing nations as late as 2006, now celebrated their fifth victory against a top-eight side in their history, forcing India to win both their next games to have a chance of qualifying for the Super Eights.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 8th Match: Bangladesh v India, 17 March
India chose to bat first, but lost Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa to Mashrafe Mortaza in his opening spell. Mortaza, described by the Cricinfo journalist as "at the heart of the impressive performance", took two wickets in the opening spell and returned to remove the two final wickets, though he also bowled six no-balls in a spell of four for 38. Spinners Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Rafique took the remaining six wickets.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 8th Match: Bangladesh v India, 17 March
Teenagers Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, with 35 international games between them, all made half-centuries as Bangladesh passed the target of 192 with nine balls and five wickets to spare, despite losing three batsmen in single figures and two batsmen stumped off the bowling of part-timer Virender Sehwag. Tamim hit seven fours and two sixes in a near run-a-ball 51, well about the required run rate of four, which meant Shakib and Mushfiqur could score at rates between three and four an over. India also dropped two easy chances and three half-chances, "in stark contrast to Bangladesh's efforts on the field", as they failed to bowl out their opposition.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 8th Match: Bangladesh v India, 17 March
The win caused mass celebrations in Bangladesh. Though the country is officially in a state of emergency and public gatherings are outlawed, thousands of people celebrated in the streets of Dhaka, waving flags and chanting, and there were also processions in Chittagong and in Mortaza's hometown, Narail.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 12th Match: Bermuda v India, 19 March
After the upset in the first group match against Bangladesh, India came back strongly against Bermuda, breaking several records in the process. Their total of 413 for five was the first World Cup innings worth more than 400, and their margin of 257 runs the largest margin of victory in an ODI. It was also the highest score in World Cup history, breaking the 400 barrier. India also broke their team record score of 376/2, and equalled the ODI record for the maximum number of sixes in an innings by scoring 18 sixes, a feat first achieved by South Africa against the Netherlands earlier in the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 12th Match: Bermuda v India, 19 March
In reply, Bermuda only professional, Glamorgan player David Hemp, hit nine fours and one six in an unbeaten innings of 76, worth fifty runs more than any other batsman could contribute. Zaheer Khan bowled both openers, while Ajit Agarkar had three wickets in six balls, causing Bermuda to crash from 106 for five to 110 for eight. Hemp then put on 44 with Dwayne Leverock before Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble ended the resistance. Extras were the second-highest score of Bermuda's innings, with 27, as four bowlers conceded a total of 12 wides.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 16th Match: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, 21 March
Bangladesh' chances of reaching the Super Eights by means of net run rate diminished after a 198-run defeat to Sri Lanka, the third-heaviest of their history and the largest since their 200-run defeat to India at the 2003 TVS Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 16th Match: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, 21 March
Indeed, it was only due to the rain during Bangladesh' innings and the consequently readjusted target that the margin of victory was smaller; Bangladesh were bowled out for 112, with all the Sri Lankan bowlers except Sanath Jayasuriya taking wickets, but Jayasuriya had already contributed with seven sixes in his twenty-fourth One-day International century as Sri Lanka totalled 318 for four. Spinners Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak were the only ones to keep the economy rate below five an over, while for Sri Lanka only Russel Arnold cost more than five an over. Four Sri Lankan batsmen outscored Bangladesh' top-scoring batsman, Ashraful, who made 45 not out from number seven.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 20th Match: India v Sri Lanka, 23 March
Four years after losing the 2003 World Cup final, India were all but eliminated from the World Cup, now relying on Bermuda to beat Bangladesh in order to qualify for the Super Eights, causing "financial disasters" for the Indian TV channels who had bought broadcasting rights at large prices. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, went through to the second stage unbeaten, after newcomers to the team Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva both struck half-centuries and Muttiah Muralitharan took three wickets, including wicket-keeper MS Dhoni for a duck.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 20th Match: India v Sri Lanka, 23 March
The first innings was described as a "cat-and-mouse battle" by Cricinfo reporter Siddhartha Vaidyanathan. Zaheer Khan started off with a wide, but also had Sanath Jayasuriya caught behind in his opening spell, striking at the end of the seventh over, and also had Tharanga in trouble with in-cutters.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 20th Match: India v Sri Lanka, 23 March
Tharanga, however, batted through nearly two thirds of the match for his 64, and none of the bowlers managed to keep the run rate below four as Sri Lanka made it to 254 for six, despite India's bowlers putting in a performance described as "impressive" (Cricinfo), "giv[ing] the Sri Lankans a huge scare" (Indian Express), "good in parts" (Kris Srikkanth) and "tidy" (PTI). Russel Arnold and Chaminda Vaas hit 38 off the final 23 balls, with five fours and a six.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 20th Match: India v Sri Lanka, 23 March
For Sri Lanka, Chaminda Vaas struck twice within eleven overs, taking a return catch off Robin Uthappa and having Sourav Ganguly caught for a 23-ball seven. Sachin Tendulkar followed in the next over, bowled by Dilhara Fernando for his second duck of the tournament, but Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid made it through the next ten overs, before the "turning point" arrived, again according to Cricinfo.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 20th Match: India v Sri Lanka, 23 March
Muttiah Muralitharan had Sehwag caught at first slip in his third over; the next six overs yielded only 14 runs and two more wickets, after Dhoni went lbw to Muralitharan, and India needed 141 runs off 22 overs. Despite double-digit scores from Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel, they were bowled out for 185.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 24th Match: Bangladesh v Bermuda, 25 March
Bangladesh advanced to the Super Eight after defeating Bermuda in this heavily rain-affected match, thus sending India home after the group stages. Bermuda opened the batting after rain had reduced the game to 41 overs per side. Four more interruptions followed, as the game was eventually cut to 21 overs a side with Bermuda at 45 for four.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group B, 24th Match: Bangladesh v Bermuda, 25 March
Set 96 to win after hitting from Dean Minors and Lionel Cann and a slight Duckworth-Lewis adjustment, Bangladesh fell to 37 for three after three wickets from Saleem Mukuddem, but Shakib Al Hasan went unbeaten for his second match running against Bermuda, making 26 not out and a partnership of 59 for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Ashraful. Extras made up almost a quarter of the total, with Kevin Hurdle conceding seven wides in his four overs.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, Team overview
NEW ZEALANDSquadCaptain: Stephen FlemingWorld Cup win-loss record: 28–23 (1 no result)World Cup best performance: Semi-finals (1975, 1979, 1992, 1999)ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 44–39 (5 no results) Against EnglandAt World Cup: 3–3ODIs since 2003 CWC: 4–2Against KenyaAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst CanadaAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, Team overview
ENGLANDSquadCaptain: Michael VaughanWorld Cup win-loss record: 31–18 (1 no result)World Cup best performance: Runners-up (1979, 1983, 1992) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 39–41 (2 ties, 5 no results) Against New ZealandAt World Cup: 3–3ODIs since 2003 CWC: 2–4Against KenyaAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst CanadaAt World Cup: 1–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, Team overview
KENYASquadCaptain: Steve TikoloWorld Cup win-loss record: 5–14 (1 no result)World Cup best performance: Semi-finals (2003) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 14–16 Against New ZealandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst EnglandAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst CanadaAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: 3–1


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, Team overview
CANADASquadCaptain: John DavisonWorld Cup win-loss record: 1–8World Cup best performance: Round 1 (1979, 2003) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 6–14 Against New ZealandAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst EnglandAt World Cup: 0–1ODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst KenyaAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: 1–3


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 3rd Match: Canada v Kenya, 14 March
Kenya captain Steve Tikolo was named man of the match after playing all the way through the chase, coming in at 52 for two, with David Obuya and Ravindu Shah dismissed in single figures with a strike rate below 25. Nevertheless, only Canada's captain John Davison conceded less than 3.5 runs an over, as the three first Canadian bowlers, Umar Bhatti, Anderson Cummins and Henry Osinde conceded 16 wides among the 107 runs in 22.2 overs. The Kenyan spinners, on the other hand, took five for 78 from 29 overs, "strangling the scoring rate." Cummins became the second man to play World Cup cricket for two different countries, having represented West Indies in 1992.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 6th Match: England v New Zealand, 16 March
Both teams had recently enjoyed series wins over Australia, but it was New Zealand who got revenge over England, who had beaten them for a place in the final of the January tri-series in Australia. England lost Ed Joyce for a duck off the first legitimate delivery of the match, and only Paul Nixon and Liam Plunkett, the numbers eight and nine, managed a strike rate above 70.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 6th Match: England v New Zealand, 16 March
With the fall of Paul Collingwood at the end of 35th over, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming brought on Shane Bond, and he removed Kevin Pietersen, England's top-scorer, and Andrew Flintoff in the same over. Jamie Dalrymple followed three overs later, as England had lost four wickets for five runs, but Nixon and Plunkett batted out the remaining 12 overs, making 71.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 6th Match: England v New Zealand, 16 March
In reply, New Zealand lost two wickets in eight balls to James Anderson and Liam Plunkett, and also had captain Fleming back for a single-figure score. However, from then on they made 191 for the loss of only one wicket, Craig McMillan caught off Monty Panesar's bowling. Scott Styris and Jacob Oram added an unbeaten 138 for the fifth wicket, just ten runs off the New Zealand record from the 1999 World Cup, resulting in a man-of-the-match award for Styris.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 23rd Match: England v Kenya, 24 March
Ed Joyce's second fifty in as many matches helped England qualify for the Super Eights in what was essentially a play-off match, eliminating 2003 semi-finalists Kenya. Steve Tikolo came in at four after James Anderson had removed both openers, and though he made his 20th half-century, none of his team-mates passed 20. Extras were the second-highest contributor, with six wides and eight no-balls, most of the latter coming from Sajid Mahmood and Andrew Flintoff, who bowled three no-balls each. Flintoff did get Tikolo out with a yorker, while three of Kenya's players were run out as they were bowled out on the last ball of the rain-reduced innings.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group C, 23rd Match: England v Kenya, 24 March
Kenya's opening bowler Peter Ongondo extracted "tennis-ball bounce" to remove Michael Vaughan for one with the 19th ball of the game; however, despite Ian Bell getting caught for 16, England had reduced the equation to 126 off 34.2 overs after Joyce and Bell's partnership. With Kevin Pietersen also getting a fifty, England made it through with ten overs to spare.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, Team overview
West IndiesSquadCaptain: Brian LaraWorld Cup win-loss record: 31–16 (1 no result)World Cup best performance: Champions (1975, 1979)ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 40–48 (6 no results) Against PakistanAt World Cup: 5–2ODIs since 2003 CWC: 3–8Against ZimbabweAt World Cup: 4–0ODIs since 2003 CWC: 9–2 (1 no result)Against IrelandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, Team overview
PakistanSquadCaptain: Inzamam-ul-HaqWorld Cup win-loss record: 29–22 (2 no results)World Cup best performance: Champions (1992) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 59–42 (3 no results) Against West IndiesAt World Cup: 2–5ODIs since 2003 CWC: 8–3Against ZimbabweAt World Cup: 2–0 (1 no result)ODIs since 2003 CWC: 4–0Against IrelandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, Team overview
ZimbabweSquadCaptain: Prosper UtseyaWorld Cup win-loss record: 8–31 (3 no results)World Cup best performance: Super Six (1999, 2003) ODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 18–67 (3 no results) Against West IndiesAt World Cup: 0–4ODIs since 2003 CWC: 2–9 (1 no result)Against PakistanAt World Cup: 0–2 (1 no result)ODIs since 2003 CWC: 0–4Against IrelandAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, Team overview
IrelandSquadCaptain: Trent JohnstonWorld Cup debutODIs since 2003 CWC win-loss record: 2–5 (1 no result) Against West IndiesAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst PakistanAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: noneAgainst ZimbabweAt World Cup: never metODIs since 2003 CWC: none


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 1st Match: West Indies v Pakistan, 13 March
Hosts West Indies won the opening match of the tournament, exacting revenge for the 1–3 series defeat in Pakistan the previous year. The local newspaper, the Jamaica Observer, said that the day "was as good as it [could] get." The Observer also pointed out that the result "will have provided a considerable advantage for West Indies" if, "as expected", they and Pakistan go through to the Super Eights. Cricinfo described the West Indies' efforts with the bat as "staccato", but credited "a disciplined bowling performance", while criticising Pakistan's bowlers for "let[ting] the batsmen dismantle their confidence."


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 1st Match: West Indies v Pakistan, 13 March
After 28 overs, Pakistan were actually ahead of West Indies, with 97 for three compared to 94 for three; then Dwayne Smith took wickets with three of twelve deliveries, and Pakistan never got ahead again.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 5th Match: Ireland v Zimbabwe, 15 March
Ireland had a much better first outing than fellow World Cup debutants Bermuda, managing a tie against the Test nation of Zimbabwe after Jeremy Bray scored his second One Day International century in the space of six weeks. Bray put on 43 with Eoin Morgan for the second wicket, but two wickets from Elton Chigumbura set them back to 64 for four after 15 overs.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 5th Match: Ireland v Zimbabwe, 15 March
Bray remained in, however, carrying his bat to 115 not out and sharing partnerships of 54 with Andrew White, 37 with captain Trent Johnston and 39 with Dave Langford-Smith. Zimbabwe used spinners Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams and Stuart Matsikenyeri at the end, who conceded few runs, ending with combined figures of 56 runs from 17 overs. Chigumbura, who had taken the top order wickets, was not reintroduced at the death.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 5th Match: Ireland v Zimbabwe, 15 March
In reply, Zimbabwe made their way to 20 overs with the loss of one wicket, slightly ahead of Ireland's total. However, Johnston broke through when he had Chamu Chibhabha caught, while Vusi Sibanda crept back on the stumps, dismantling a bail to be out hit wicket for 67 as he took off to make a single, not realising his misfortune. Another misfortune struck when Brendan Taylor was run out, essentially by the batsmen on strike (Matsikenyeri) who returned McCallan's ball with a fierce straight drive, taking Taylor's wicket down in the process.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 5th Match: Ireland v Zimbabwe, 15 March
Nevertheless, after Stuart Matsikenyeri's half-century, they required 15 runs with 36 balls remaining; however, they only got six of those runs off the next 30 balls, with Gary Brent and Chris Mpofu rarely managing to get off the strike. Kevin O'Brien, whose only over had cost eight runs, was brought back in the 49th, and he took one wicket and had Mpofu run out in a maiden over. Zimbabwe now needed nine off the last over with only a wicket in hand.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 5th Match: Ireland v Zimbabwe, 15 March
Matsikenyeri hit two twos and a single, Ed Rainsford got off the strike with a single off his only ball, before Matsikenyeri tied the scores with a cut for two. With one ball, one wicket and one run in contention, Rainsford's desperate dash caused him to be run out and the match a tie - the third of World Cup history.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 9th Match: Ireland v Pakistan, 17 March
Pakistan, ranked fourth in the ICC ODI Championship tables before the tournament, were eliminated from the tournament after five days, an event described by BBC in an online report as "unthinkable". Niall O'Brien made 72, but was out stumped with 25 runs still to get and had to watch as his brother Kevin O'Brien and Trent Johnston put on 20 for the eighth wicket to win the game.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 9th Match: Ireland v Pakistan, 17 March
Pakistan were put in to bat, and were bowled out for 132, with extras being the top scorer as Ireland offered 23 wides. Pakistan's captain Inzamam-ul-Haq still credited Ireland's bowlers with bowling "tight lines", while taking the blame for "too many poor shots", as all ten batsmen were out caught. Boyd Rankin took the most wickets, including Younis Khan and top-scorer Kamran Akmal, while Andre Botha's spell of five runs from eight overs also yielded the wickets of Inzamam and opener Imran Nazir.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 9th Match: Ireland v Pakistan, 17 March
When Ireland batted, Bray, who had made a hundred in the previous match, fell lbw to Mohammad Sami, who took three for 29 after being left out of the side four days earlier. Ireland fell to 15 for two, but O'Brien and William Porterfield added 37 before Porterfield played a ball from Mohammad Hafeez onto his stumps and was bowled. O'Brien made shots off Hafeez, however, who ended with 15 runs off four overs, one of the three most expensive bowlers of the game. He was eventually stumped for 72, before Iftikhar Anjum struck twice in two balls, Ireland now needing 20 with three wickets in hand. Kevin O'Brien and Trent Johnston got there, however, with Ireland captain Johnston winning the game with a six, the second of the game.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 9th Match: Ireland v Pakistan, 17 March
Following the defeat and early exit from the World Cup, there was a huge negative reaction from the millions of passionate Pakistani fans and government, calling for the captain, coach and the president of the board to resign.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 9th Match: Ireland v Pakistan, 17 March
On the morning after the game, Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room, and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon afterwards. Players, experts and the rest of the cricketing world mourned the death of "the cricket scholar", in the words of former South African Test bowler Fanie de Villiers, while commentators such as Cricinfo's Dileep Premachandran criticised the "effigy-burners" in Pakistan who, in his opinion, did not "possess common sense". On the same day, Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his retirement from one-day cricket.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 17th Match: Pakistan v Zimbabwe, 21 March
Pakistan were considering forfeiting the game, but have been ordered to complete it by the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Imran Nazir led the way for Pakistan, an almost solo performance of 160 from just 121 balls as Pakistan made 349 all out, bowled out on the second last ball. No other players made 40; Inzamam-ul-Haq made 37 in his final One Day International, while number nine Iftikhar Anjum came in with four overs to spare and hit 32 from 16 balls before being last out to Elton Chigumbura.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 17th Match: Pakistan v Zimbabwe, 21 March
Zimbabwe lost Vusi Sibanda, Justice Chibhabha and Friday Kasteni before rain arrived after 10.2 overs with the score at 33 for 3. Play eventually resumed with the innings cut to just 20 overs, leaving Zimbabwe with a reduced target, though they still needed a further 160 runs from 58 balls.


2007 Cricket World Cup Group D, 21st Match: West Indies v Ireland, 23 March
The match was interrupted by rain near the end of Ireland's innings; West Indies were set an adjusted target of 190 from 48 overs.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage
The Super Eight stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was scheduled between 27 March 2007 and 21 April 2007, and determined the four qualifiers for the semi-finals of the tournament. Matches were held in Antigua, Bridgetown in Barbados, Georgetown in Guyana, and Grenada.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage
Each team carried forward the result from the other team qualifying from its group in the group stage of the tournament, so the Super Eight was essentially an eight-team round robin competition. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a tie or a no result. If teams were tied on points, the team with the most wins was ranked ahead, and if this is also equal net run rate determined the ranking order.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Table
The four top teams, depicted with green backgrounds in the table below, qualified for the semi-finals.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams
Eight teams qualified from the group stage. India and Pakistan, ranked fifth and fourth in the ICC ODI Championship before the tournament began, were eliminated by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively. The other six seeded teams proceeded, with Australia beating the number one rank in the One Day International championship South Africa. New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies also carried one win forward from the group stage.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams, ICC ODI Championship rankings
These were the rankings as of 12 March, before the group stage began.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams, ICC ODI Championship rankings
Note:Ireland did not have an official ODI ranking; they were ranked in this tournament based on their win percentage against associate members and then wins against full members.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams, Previous World Cup record
To find the record of a particular team, find its row in the table, and then look along the row to find its record against all opponents. (Thus, for example, Australia have won three and lost two against England.)


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams, ODI record since the 2003 World Cup
The table includes matches from 1 April 2003 to 1 March 2007, but does not include matches played during the 2007 World Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Teams, ODI record since the 2003 World Cup
To find the record of a particular team, find its row in the table, and then look along the row to find its record against all opponents. (Thus, for example, Australia have won 17 and lost five against New Zealand.)


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 27 March: Australia v West Indies
Australia were put in to bat by Brian Lara as the ball moved about and deviated off the seam in the early overs. Daren Powell got the wicket of Adam Gilchrist with an inside edge, while Matthew Hayden could not score off his first 17 deliveries – then made 158 runs from the next 126 to make the highest innings for Australia in a World Cup match. However, Ricky Ponting and Hayden scored at above six an over in their partnership, before Ponting was eventually run out.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 27 March: Australia v West Indies
Hayden added 98 for the third wicket with Michael Clarke before Dwayne Bravo broke through, and Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey could not provide more than 15 runs to the team cause. Hussey got out the total at 234 for five in the 41st over, but Hayden eventually led Australia to break loose in the last 10 overs, taking 99 from them despite a 20-minute break for rain. Shane Watson's 33 from 26 balls also helped push Australia to 322 for 6 after the full 50 overs. This was the sixth successive score above 300 for Australia, a new One-day International record.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 27 March: Australia v West Indies
Drizzle and wet ground conditions delayed the start of West Indies' reply and the game was eventually abandoned to resume the following day. They lost three wickets in the first 20 overs, and though Brian Lara and Denesh Ramdin contributed fifties, they required 105 to win off 28 balls when Daren Powell was bowled by Shaun Tait. Earlier, Glenn McGrath had removed Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo for single-figure scores, thus moving within one wicket of Wasim Akram's World Cup record.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 27 March: Australia v West Indies
This was the first international match at the new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. The stadium was barely half-filled for the game, causing criticism from notables such as West Indies' captain Brian Lara and commentator Mark Nicholas.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 28 March: Sri Lanka v South Africa
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, and lost their first five wickets for 98, with Charl Langeveldt taking two in his first spell. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold built a sixth-wicket stand of 97 in nearly 20 overs, but Dilshan was caught off Makhaya Ntini's bowling, and then Charl Langeveldt took three wickets in five balls as Sri Lanka were bowled out in the final over for 209.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 28 March: Sri Lanka v South Africa
In reply, Chaminda Vaas had AB de Villiers bowled in the first over, but Jacques Kallis added 95 with Graeme Smith and 65 with Herschelle Gibbs, leading South Africa to within four runs of victory with his 86. Then Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga struck. He became the first bowler to take four wickets with four consecutive deliveries in international cricket, though South Africa managed a run off Vaas in the intermediate over. South Africa now needed three runs to win with one wicket in hand, and eleven deliveries went by before Robin Peterson got an outside edge to a Malinga ball, which went out of reach of slip and went fine for four.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 30 March: England v Ireland
England won the toss and batted first, but lost both openers to Boyd Rankin in six overs, before Ian Bell spent 74 balls making his 31. When Bell got out, the run rate was slightly above 4; in the final 28 overs it was in excess of 6, with Paul Collingwood making 90, Kevin Pietersen 48 and Andrew Flintoff 43. Kyle McCallan was the most economical bowler for Ireland, and also took the wicket of Pietersen.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 30 March: England v Ireland
Chasing 267 in reply, Niall O'Brien's third One-day International fifty and his second of the World Cup helped Ireland to a total of 139 for six in the 37th over, but despite faster than a run a ball scores from Trent Johnston and Andrew White Ireland fell 48 runs short as Andrew Flintoff took the final two wickets, though they exceeded their previous World Cup record total by seven runs.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 31 March: Bangladesh v Australia
The match was shortened to 22 overs a side due to a wet outfield. Glenn McGrath took his wicket tally to 56 after this match.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 1 April: Sri Lanka v West Indies
The start of the match was delayed due to bad weather, but a full 50-over match was played, which resulted in West Indies' third defeat in four days. Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene added 183 for the third wicket, before Tillakaratne Dilshan came in and took 39 off 22 deliveries as the final eleven overs yielded 84 runs. In reply, West Indies needed 170 off 94 when Ramnaresh Sarwan was stumped off Sanath Jayasuriya; they only got 56 of those, and were bowled out for 190, with four batsmen out in single figures.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 3 April: Ireland v South Africa
Match shortened due to rain; Duckworth-Lewis revised target to win: 160 runs in 35 overs for South Africa.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Antigua and Guyana (27 March to 9 April), 4 April: Sri Lanka v England
Sri Lanka batted first and made 235, bowled out off the last ball with a run out. England lost their openers for 0 and 10, but Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen made a stand of 90 for the third wicket, and Paul Collingwood joined Pietersen to add a further 25 before Pietersen was caught and bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan. England then lost two more wickets for seven runs to Dilhara Fernando, and required 103 off 16.3 overs with four wickets in hand. However, Ravinder Bopara scored a half-century in his fourth One-Day International innings, as he and Paul Nixon took England within three runs of victory. However, Fernando returned for the last over, and bowled Bopara off the last ball.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 12 April: New Zealand v Sri Lanka
Despite missing top bowler Lasith Malinga due to injury, Sri Lanka won comfortably against New Zealand.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 13 April: Ireland v Australia
Australia's win confirmed their place in the top four. Ireland could not now qualify for the semi-finals.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 14 April: South Africa v New Zealand
This win by New Zealand meant that they had qualified for the semi-finals. It also confirmed Sri Lanka's place in the top four, as only one other team below them could equal Sri Lanka's 8 points.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 15 April: Ireland v Bangladesh
Ireland's total of 243/7 was their highest in World Cup matches. Bangladesh's loss meant that they could not now qualify for the semi-finals.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 16 April: Sri Lanka v Australia
Australia were now guaranteed either first or second place in the Super 8s, and Sri Lanka could no longer get first place.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 17 April: England v South Africa
This result confirmed that South Africa had clinched one of the four semi-final places, and that England and the West Indies were unable to progress.


2007 Cricket World Cup Super Eight stage, Matches in Barbados and Grenada (10 April to 21 April), 47th Match: Australia v New Zealand, 20 April
Australia secured top place on the Super 8 table and a semifinal match-up with South Africa.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification
The 2007 Cricket World Cup was contested between 16 of the 97 countries that were members of the International Cricket Council at the time. The 11 teams with One-Day International status at the time of drafting qualified automatically for the World Cup. Meanwhile, the 86 other members of the ICC played off in a series of tournaments, forming the Cricket World Cup qualification process, to capture one of the remaining five spots in the World Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, European Cricket Council Trophy 2003
Held in Austria in August 2003, the European Cricket Council Trophy 2003 was contested by 11 teams across 3 preliminary groups. The top four teams from these groups progressed through to a championship group, where each team played each other once.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, European Cricket Council Trophy 2003
Group Standings: Norway, Greece, Malta and Austria progressed to the Championship Group.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, European Cricket Council Trophy 2003
Final Standings: Norway qualified to participate in European Championships 2nd Division 2004, after finishing on top of the championship group.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Affiliates Tournaments, ICC WCQS Tournament - Africa Affiliates
Held in Africa during March 2004, 8 teams (from 7 countries and a South Africa Country Districts team) played off in two groups of four. After each team has played one game against the other three teams in their pool, the top two teams advanced to the next round. The two top teams in each group progressed, playing semi-finals, a third-place play-off and a final, where South Africa Country Districts defeated Botswana.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Affiliates Tournaments, Americas Affiliates Championship 2004
Similarly to the African Affiliates playoff, the Americas Affiliates Championship was contested in March 2004 to decide the team that would progress through to the next round. Five ICC Affiliate members played off in a round-robin format from 23 March to 27 March, playing each other once.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Affiliates Tournaments, European Championships 2nd Division 2004
Competed in Belgium in 2004 and separate to the 1st Division Championships for the first time, six countries played off on four grounds in Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen. Italy went through unbeaten, qualifying for a play off at the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 for the twelfth and final place for the 2005 ICC Trophy.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, Asian Cricket Council Trophy
Hosted in Malaysia in June 2004, the ACC Trophy was contested by 15 countries divided into four groups. The tournament then progressed into a knockout phase, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter finals. At the end of the tournament, the runner-up Oman and the winner United Arab Emirates secured themselves a spot in the ICC Trophy.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, Asian Cricket Council Trophy
Kuwait, Qatar and Nepal finished third, fourth and fifth, and play in the World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 2005.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament
Both Namibia and Uganda qualified for the ICC Trophy after they finished ahead of the other four teams in a round robin tournament played in Zambia in August 2004.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, European Championships 2004
Even though the tournament isn't considered to be a qualification tournament, the European Championship is considered to be the most important European tournament on the calendar. Contested by Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Scotland as well as an ECB England XI, the format is a round robin tournament, with the winner being the team that finishes on top. Denmark, Holland, Ireland and Scotland were already guaranteed a direct spot into the ICC Trophy, with the ECB XI being ineligible.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, Americas Cricket Championship
Bermuda hosted the 2004 Americas Cricket Championship in July 2004, which was played as a round robin tournament with the top three out of the six teams progressing through to the ICC Trophy.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, Final Regional Qualifying Events, ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket Challenge 2004
Japan hosted the tournament from May 25 to May 29, 2004, with teams from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan and Tonga contesting in a round robin format, with the top two ranked teams, Fiji and Tonga, playing in a final to decide the tournament winner. Fiji beat Tonga in the final by 181 runs, hence qualifying to the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 2005
This new event for the eight teams that had narrowly missed out on direct qualification for the ICC Trophy was played in Malaysia in February 2005. Two groups of four teams each played each other in a round robin stage, with the top two teams from each group progressing to a knockout stage, where the winners would progress to a final. Papua New Guinea emerged winners in Kuala Lumpur on 26 February, beating Fiji by 30 runs. Papua New Guinea therefore managed to grab the final spot into the ICC Trophy.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, 2005 ICC Trophy
The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 associate members of the International Cricket Council.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, 2005 ICC Trophy
It came with the prize of a place in the 2007 Cricket World Cup (and together with it a share of US$2,500,000 for future development) for the five top-ranked teams, and with the prize of official One Day International status from 1 January 2006 (until the 2009 ICC Trophy) for the five top-ranked teams along with Kenya, who had already been given official one-day status till the 2009 Trophy.


2007 Cricket World Cup qualification, 2005 ICC Trophy
On 7 July, Ireland, Bermuda, Scotland and Canada qualified for the semi-finals. With that, they also won places in the 2007 Cricket World Cup and, from 1 January 2006, official One Day International status. On 11 July, the Netherlands also achieved this by beating the UAE to finish fifth. Scotland won the tournament, beating Ireland in the final.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads
This is a list of the squads picked for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. as the ninth Cricket World Cup tournament and was held between 14 March and 28 April 2007. The sixteen teams asked to announce their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICCs Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads
In order to aid the teams to select the final 15, teams were given the option to announce a 30-man squad by mid-January, with the understanding that the final squad would be picked from these 30 players. However, this was not strictly adhered to – several of England's final 15 came from outside the initial 30, for example.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Australia
Australia named their 15-man squad on 13 February 2007. On 23 February 2007, Brett Lee was removed from the squad due to injury and was replaced by Stuart Clark.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Netherlands
The KNCB named their 15-man squad on 13 February 2007. The squad was unchanged from that which was named for the World Cricket League Division One event in January 2007.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Scotland
Scotland named their squad in August 2006, to assist the players in arranging work and training schedules. However, Glenn Rogers later came in for Omer Hussain. Of the Scotland 15, Gavin Hamilton and John Blain have previous World Cup experience.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Bangladesh
Bangladesh named their 15-man squad on 13 February. Farhad Reza brought in for Tapash Baisya, 7 April.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, India
India announced their final 15-man squad on 12 February 2007.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka announced their 15-man squad on 12 February 2007.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group C, England
England announced their final 15-man squad at The Oval on 14 February 2007. Jon Lewis was replaced by Stuart Broad on 4 April 2007 to allow him to return home to his wife as she was experiencing complications in the latter stages of her pregnancy).


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group C, New Zealand
New Zealand announced a preliminary squad on 14 January 2007, and announced their 15-man squad on 13 February 2007.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group C, New Zealand
Daryl Tuffey was injured during the tournament; he was replaced by Chris Martin on 25 March.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group C, New Zealand
Lou Vincent was injured during the tournament; he was replaced by Hamish Marshall on 26 March.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group D, Ireland
Ireland named their squad in August 2006, the first country to do so, in order to assist the players in arranging work and training schedules. Irish player Ed Joyce, who turned out for Ireland in qualifying matches, was in England's squad.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group D, Pakistan
Pakistan announced a preliminary squad on 10 January 2007, and the final 15-man squad on 13 February 2007. Both Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were included, despite their ongoing doping case, where the Pakistan Cricket Board had first banned them before a tribunal reprieved the two. In a twist of fate, both players were replaced by Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat on 1 March due to knee and elbow injuries respectively.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group D, Pakistan
Pakistan had already made one change due to injury: Azhar Mahmood joined the squad in place of Abdul Razzaq, who suffered a knee injury during a practice session on 26 February.


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group D, Pakistan
Coach: Bob Woolmer (died during tournament) and Mushtaq Ahmed (acting coach)


2007 Cricket World Cup squads, Group D, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's 15-man squad was announced on 14 February; only one player remains from the 2003 squad.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics
The following is a list of all the major statistics and records for the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. Though India were eliminated early, they set the ODI record for the highest victory margin in their 257 run win over Bermuda. In their match against Netherlands, Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) created ODI and International cricket record when he hit sixes off all six deliveries in Daan van Bunge's over.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics
In the Super 8 stage games, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) created ODI record when he took four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in a losing effort against South Africa. By the end of the tournament, new World Cup records for the fastest fifty (20 balls – Brendon McCullum of New Zealand) and fastest hundred (66 balls – Matthew Hayden of Australia) were established. Glenn McGrath established a new Cricket World Cup record for the most wickets (26) and also finished his ODI career with the most wickets in World Cup history (71).


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics
The number of sixes in the overall tournament (373) was 40% higher than the previous record holder, the 2003 Cricket World Cup (266). The tournament also saw 32 century partnerships (previous record of 28 during the 1996 Cricket World Cup) and 10 batsmen over 400 runs (previous record of 4 during the 2003 Cricket World Cup).


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Team totals, Highest team total
India's total of 413 runs against Bermuda is the current record for the highest score in an innings in a World cup match, bettering Sri Lanka's 398 runs against Kenya in the 1996 Cricket World Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Bowling, Most wickets in the tournament
McGrath surpassed Akram's record (55 wickets) for the highest number of wickets in World Cup matches, in the game against Bangladesh. His total of 26 wickets was the highest in any single World Cup tournament, and he finished the tournament with 71 wickets in all World Cup matches.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Batting, Most runs in the tournament
Hayden's 659 runs in the series stands second to only Tendulkar's 673 runs in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The tournament also saw 10 players exceeding 400 runs for the first time, the previous best being 4 players over 400 runs in world cup tournament (2003 edition).


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Batting, Highest individual scores
Imran Nazir's 160 is the highest score by any individual in West Indies in ODI and List A matches. Matthew Hayden scored the 100th century in World cup history during his innings of 103 against New Zealand.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Batting, Highest partnerships of the tournament
The 4th wicket partnership between Brad Hodge and Michael Clarke is the world cup record for that wicket.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Batting, Highest partnerships of the tournament
Note: Top ten would be listed – eleventh place listed due to equal scores.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Batting, Most sixes, In the tournament
Note: Only player with 10 or more. Listed in order of number of sixes, then innings, then surname.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Fielding, Most catches in the tournament
Ricky Ponting increased his record number of catches in World cup matches from 17 to 25. Sanath Jayasuriya has moved to second place (18 catches).


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Wicket-keeping, Most dismissals in the tournament
Adam Gilchrist became the first wicket-keeper to reach the milestone of 50 dismissals in all World Cup matches. His tally of seven World Cup stumpings also equals the record held by Pakistan's Moin Khan.


2007 Cricket World Cup statistics, Tied match
2007 Cricket World cup saw the third tied match in the tournament history ensuring that this was the third world cup with a tied game (1999 Cricket World Cup – Semifinals between Australia and South Africa and 2003 Cricket World Cup – Group B match between South Africa and Sri Lanka)


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires
The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprised nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included was Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel comprises seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as West Indies' team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who was appearing in his fifth final in a row - extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Umpires
From the International Panel, Russell Tiffin of Zimbabwe, Nigel Llong of England and Suresh Shastri of India were identified as the reserve umpires, should a member of the above panel have become unavailable. None were eventually called on by the end of the tournament.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Umpires
* Norman Malcolm and Goland Greaves only officiated in one match each, both acting as Fourth umpire.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Referees
Seven of the eight members of the Panel of ICC Referees were included in the roster to perform match refereeing duties throughout the tournament. The only member to be left out was Clive Lloyd due to his commitment as coach of the West Indies cricket team; however he announced his retirement from match refereeing towards the end of the Super 8 stage of the competition.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Super 8 stage appointments
Umpires:Only umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires officiated from the Super Eight stage of the competition until its conclusion.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Super 8 stage appointments
Referees:Chris Broad, Mike Procter, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle were chosen to officiate the matches from the Super Eight stage onwards.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Semi-finals
After a review of the performance of the umpires throughout the tournament the best four umpires were appointed to officiate on-field in the semi-finals. The role of third umpire will be filled by the two next best umpires, and likewise for the fourth umpire appointments.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Semi-finals
Of the appointed umpires, Bucknor and Koertzen have stood on-field before in World Cup semi-finals. Taufel and Dar served as third and fourth umpires respectively in the semi-finals of the previous tournament in 2003.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Final
The two on-field umpires for the final were chosen after a performance review, such that they are the two best umpires from the tournament (independent of the competing nations). The third and fourth umpire roles were filled by the same process.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Final
Since the officials had to be independent of the two nations participating in the final, Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper were ineligible to umpire, whilst Ranjan Madugalle could not serve as the match referee.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Match appointments, Final
This was Aleem Dar's first appointment in a World Cup final, and prior to the match had said that it was to be the most important game of his career to date. Steve Bucknor, on the other hand, stood in his fifth consecutive World Cup final, extending his previous record of four in a row, though this competition held a special note, having been held in his native West Indies. He said that this appointment was a dream come true.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Criticism of umpires
Whilst the majority of the tournament passed without any major criticism of the umpires or errors on their part, the Final was wrought with confusion and was described as a "farcical finish" to the competition.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Criticism of umpires
Rain affected the start of the match, reducing the contest to 38 overs a side, and further rain reduced the Sri Lankan innings to 36 overs. With Australia almost certain victors with just 3 overs to go, bad light began to affect play and the umpires seemed to offer the Sri Lankans the opportunity to leave the field for bad light.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Criticism of umpires
Both teams assumed this would have granted Australia victory that evening, but they were soon informed that if the light improved the match would have to continue; and if not then the final 3 overs would be played the next day. Sri Lanka's batsmen eventually came out and played out the final 3 overs regardless, and Australia were eventually crowned champions.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Criticism of umpires
Match referee Jeff Crowe revealed a "communication breakdown" between himself, on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor and third umpire Rudi Koertzen was to blame for the mix-up, which overlooked Law 21 of the laws of cricket. The law states that, in a One Day International, providing a minimum of 20 overs have been played then a result can be reached using the Duckworth-Lewis system.


2007 Cricket World Cup umpires, Criticism of umpires
The ICC issued a statement apologising for occurrence of the incident, but said that none of those involved would be sacked. Two months later it was announced that all five officials involved - the two on field umpires, the third and fourth umpires and the match referee - were to be reprimanded by suspension to prevent them officiating in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches
The 2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches were held prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup, between 5 March and 9 March 2007. All 16 nations that were qualified to take part in the World Cup participated in a series of matches to prepare, experiment with different tactics and to help them acclimatise to conditions in the West Indies.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches
The warm-up matches were not classified as One Day Internationals by the International Cricket Council (ICC), despite sharing some of main features of this form of cricket, but some of the playing regulations were different from standard internationals in order to allow teams to experiment. For example, the main change allowed for thirteen different players to play in a match – nine players being allowed to both bat and bowl, with two only being able to bowl and two only being able to bat – instead of the eleven players normally allowed.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches
Several of the teams voiced concerns of various matters involving the stadia and practicing facilities: many of the stadiums were considered incomplete, whilst some teams claimed that the pitches were uneven, resulting in an unsafe experience to be batting in. Ultimately none of the stadia used in the warm-up games were used in any other part of the tournament except for the Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny, Jamaica, which hosted the opening ceremony but no matches.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches
Australia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan were the only teams to win both of their warm-up games, whilst Bermuda, Canada, the Netherlands and Scotland did not win either of their fixtures.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, Match status
None of the warm-up games were officially recognised as ODIs or List A matches by the International Cricket Council due to various changes in the rules of the game. Whilst normally only 11 players are allowed to bat and field (excluding situations involving a substitute fielder), 13 players were used in each team's squad for the matches – 11 of which were allowed to field at one time and 11 of which were allowed to bat (meaning players could be swapped in and out when fielding or bowling, but two players did not bat in a match). In official ICC matches match referees are required to help officiate a game, but due to the changes in the rules none were appointed for any of the warm-up games. Additionally, Man of the Match awards were not given out and no reserve days were set for these matches.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, Preparation problems
A number of preparation problems surfaced before the start of the World Cup. Some of the venues were not complete by the opening ceremony on 11 March 2007. At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns. At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm-up matches due to accreditation problems.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, Preparation problems
During the Pakistan and Canada warm-up match at Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground, the sight screen was knocked down and the game was delayed by over 70 minutes and reduced to 48 overs. Additionally, a tear gas canister exploded at the Trinidad hotel where the Pakistan, South Africa, Canada and Ireland teams were staying. The hotel had to be evacuated but no injuries were reported.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, Preparation problems
A number of concerns were expressed regarding the conditions of the pitches for the warm-up matches. During the Pakistan and South Africa warm-up game, the teams were unhappy with the condition of the pitch, claiming irregular bounce off the wicket was "treacherous". In addition, a number of teams expressed concern over the slow wickets used during the warm-up matches, although Cricinfo writer Sambit Bal welcomed the pitches slowing down as a method of making the battle between the batsmen and the bowlers more equal.


2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, Aggregate results
Note: Due to the change in the rules for these matches, the results did not have any effect on the ICC ODI Championship table or the ICC Associate ODI rankings.


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
The 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré was the 59th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré cycle race and was held from 10 June to 17 June 2007. The race consisted of a Prologue and seven stages, of which one was a time trial, covering a total of about 1,140 km (710 mi), starting in Grenoble and finishing in Annecy.


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Teams
Nineteen teams, each with a maximum of eight riders, entered the race:


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Pre-race favourites
The race was important preparation for the Tour de France. Of top names, defending champion Levi Leipheimer, Alejandro Valverde, Óscar Pereiro, Denis Menchov and Alexander Vinokourov were in the race while Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen head the sprinters' group.


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages
The first, second and third placed riders, of each stage, were given 3, 2 and 1 UCI ProTour points, respectively.


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Prologue
10 June 2008 - Grenoble, 4.2 km (2.6 mi) (ITT)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 1
11 June 2008 - Grenoble to Roanne, 219 km (136 mi)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 2
12 June 2008 - Saint-Paul-en-Jarez to Saint-Étienne, 157 km (98 mi)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 3
13 June 2008 - Anneyron, 40.7 km (25.3 mi) (ITT)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 4
14 June 2008 - Hauterives to Le Mont-Ventoux, 197 km (122 mi)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 5
15 June 2008 - Nyons to Digne-les-Bains, 195 km (121 mi)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 6
16 June 2008 - Gap to Valloire, 198 km (123 mi)


2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stages, Stage 7
17 June 2008 - Valloire to Annecy, 129 km (80 mi)


2007 Croatia Open Umag
The 2007 Croatia Open Umag was the 18th edition of the Croatia Open Umag men's tennis tournament. The tournament was held from 23 July until 29 July 2007 and was part of the 2007 ATP Tour


2007 Croatia Open Umag
Carlos Moyà won his first and only title of the year and his 20th and final career title overall. Moyà won four times previously, making him one of only eight men to have won five titles at a single event in the open era.


2007 Croatia Open Umag, Finals, Doubles
Lukáš Dlouhý /  Michal Mertiňák defeated  Jaroslav Levinský /  David Škoch, 6–1, 6–1


2007 Croatia Open Umag – Doubles
The 2007 Croatia Open Umag was the 18th occurrence of the Croatia Open Umag tennis tournament, held on July 23–29.


2007 Croatia Open Umag – Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2007 Croatia Open Umag – Singles
Carlos Moyá defeated Andrei Pavel 6–4, 6–2 to win the 2007 Croatia Open Umag singles event.


2007 Croatian Figure Skating Championships
The 2007 Croatian Figure Skating Championships (Croatian: Prvenstvo Hrvatske za 2007) took place between December 16 and 17, 2006 in Zagreb. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles and ladies' singles.


2007 Croatian Football Cup Final
The 2007 Croatian Cup Final was a two-legged affair played between Dinamo Zagreb and Slaven Belupo. The first leg was played in Zagreb on 9 May 2007, while the second leg on 26 May 2007 in Koprivnica.


2007 Croatian Football Cup Final
Dinamo Zagreb won the trophy with an aggregate result of 2–1.


2007 Croatian coast fires
The 2007 Croatian coast fires (Croatian: Požari u Hrvatskoj 2007.) were a series of fires that struck the Croatian coast in the summer of 2007. After a heat wave, which covered the entire Southern and Eastern Europe, the drought and southern wind helped spread the fires all over the Croatian coast, destroying a large part of the fragile plant and animal life.


2007 Croatian coast fires
There were 750 fires on the coast from 1 June to 8 August. They burned in the Istria County, the Zadar County, the Šibenik-Knin County, the Split-Dalmatia County and the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The total burned area covered 159,000 hectares.


2007 Croatian coast fires
The police indicted 18 persons and arrested 12 persons for arson. Those arrested included an unnamed 56-year-old suspected of setting seven fires and some shepherds who burned grass for sheep. When fires broke out in the region of Dubrovnik, the local authorities accused the Herzegovinian town of Trebinje of deliberately setting fires. Tragedy struck when, of the 23 firefighters sent to a burning island, the island of Kornat, 12 firefighters were killed by fast moving brush fires, one was severely injured, and ten were forced to leave before they could extinguish the blaze themselves, which ended up extinguishing itself naturally.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Istria
On 19 July, a fire broke out near Pula. It caused the Pula-Premantura county road to be closed in the section from the Banjole crossroads to Premantura, reported the Croatian Automobile Club.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Istria
On 27 July, ten new fires broke out in the Istrian region. Two large fires–near the Pineta Trailer Park in Peroj near Pula and near the Amarin Trailer Park in Rovinj–were soon localized.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Istria
On 7 August, there was a fire between Batvači, Peroj and Barbariga, in the municipality of Vodnjan. It was localized around 7:30 PM by a Canadair CL-415 airplane and a helicopter that started extinguishing the fire around 6 PM. The fire, which was spreading because of the wind and the unapproachable terrain, was extinguished by 90 firefighters and 22 fire engines. The fire burned 80 hectares of forests and brush.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia
There were several fires in Dalmatia in July and August. The first fire broke out in the afternoon of 26 July, on Veliki Rujan, which is right next to the Paklenica National Park. The most endangered area was the southeast part of the National Park. The fire was fought by more than 200 firemen, National Park employees and members of the Croatian Ground Army. The firemen received reinforcements during the next days. There were also two firefighting planes and a helicopter. A fire broke out on the Svilaja Mountain, but it was soon localized.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia
The fire near Podstražje, a village by the Rukavac Cove on the island of Vis, was localized on 7 August by the professionals and volunteers from Vis and Komiža, with 46 firemen and nine fire engines. The August fire near Lake Vrana was soon localized.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia
On 8 August, a fire broke out around Žitnić, spreading to the mined area along the Šibenik-Drniš state road, which was closed for traffic. It was fought by professionals and volunteers from Drniš: 21 firemen and six fire engines.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia, Kornati tragedy
On 30 August, a new fire broke out on the island of Kornat, part of the Kornati National park. A team of 23 firemen was sent on an Mi-8 helicopter on what they thought would be just a routine mission. Upon arrival, they split into two teams, one with six firemen and the other with 17. The latter split up one more time when three firemen lost their communication gear, and again when the fourth one went checking for the signal while trying to call his superiors.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia, Kornati tragedy
The remaining 13 were stranded between two hills with no water whatsoever, since the large water canister landed 500 meters away from them. While searching for it, they got encircled by a wall of fire. Although the burning grass was only 10 cm tall, the firemen did not have the necessary equipment and had nowhere to run. In only a minute, six of them were killed instantly, while the other seven remained lying on the ground, badly burned, waiting for help more than two hours.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires in Dalmatia, Kornati tragedy
After the rescue, they were sent to the hospital in Zadar and then transferred to hospitals in Zagreb and Split. Six of them died in hospital because of serious burns covering large areas of their bodies. The fire itself had nowhere to spread, and was soon naturally extinguished, bringing up many questions about the necessity of the intervention. Allegedly, the firemen were killed by an unexploded CBU-87 dumped over Kornat by NATO planes returning from the Kosovo War in 1999.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires around Dubrovnik
On 5 August, several fires broke out in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. At 10 PM, the sirens sounded the general alarm because the fire came close to the city of Dubrovnik itself. Mayor of Dubrovnik, Dubravka Šuica, called all the able men to help the firemen. A shelter for women, children and old people was made in the Revelin Fortress. The firemen from the Split-Dalmatia County and the Šibenik-Knin County helped fight the fire. At one time, the fire crossed Žarkovica, a couple of hundred meters from the first city houses.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires around Dubrovnik
On the other side, the fire reached Komolac and endangered the main power station. The state road was closed in the section from Konavle to Zaton, so the drivers there had to spend the night waiting on the road. The most desperate situation was around Mokošica, where the 20-kilometer fire came down to the houses, burning one house in Šumet.


2007 Croatian coast fires, Fires around Dubrovnik
On 8 August, a forest fire broke out in the municipality of Konavle. It was fought by the county firemen and the state intervention forces of Dubrovnik, with 50 firemen and 15 fire engines. They were helped by three Canadair CL-415 airplanes and an Air Tractor. Firefighting was made more difficult by the strong wind and drought. Some tourists were evacuated from local hotels.


2007 Croatian coast fires, International accusations of arson
On 6 August and 7 August, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader visited Dubrovnik, which was followed by fires in that area. It prompted some county officials to make arson accusations against the nearby town of Trebinje in the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mario Magud, the firefighting commander in Konavle, said: "There are no firemen on the Trebinje side. Everything indicates that they set the fire themselves with the intention to burn Konavle and beyond. It's not a coincidence that, as soon as we localize one fire, a new fire breaks out." Luka Korda, the chief of Konavle municipality, made similar accusations.


2007 Croatian coast fires, International accusations of arson
The Herzegovinian civil defense secretary Stanko Slišković said it was not true that the Herzegovinian firemen did not do anything to prevent fires in the border area near Dubrovnik: "Our people made the greatest effort to fight every fire where it was possible. Nobody can say with certainty where a fire started... I'm sorry this happened and I understand the indignation of the citizens of Dubrovnik, but it's not our fault." He claimed that the Herzegovinian civil defense cooperated well with their Croatian counterparts and said that the Herzegovinian forces could not fight the fires in the inaccessible or mined areas.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 25 November 2007 and for overseas voters on 24 and 25 November. The campaign officially started on 3 November. The President of Croatia announced elections on 17 October and 14 days were allowed for candidate lists to be submitted.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election
Elections were held in 10 electoral districts inside Croatia (each providing 14 members of parliament), one electoral district for Croatian citizens living abroad (with a maximum 12 members of parliament), and one electoral district for national minorities (8 members of parliament). Candidate lists have to win more than 5% of the votes in at least one electoral district in order to be represented in the parliament. 4,478,386 people in total were eligible to vote, 405,092 of whom are in the diaspora, 280,000 living in Bosnia-Herzegovina.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election
To prevent possible electoral fraud, such as votes from the deceased, or people voting twice in different locations, the Croatians outside Croatia who were eligible to vote had to register no later than 14 days before the election.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election
In three locales, the election were repeated on 9 December 2007; while this could not and did not change the final result as far as mandates are concerned, it meant the final result became known only on 11 December 2007.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election
The governing centre-right Croatian Democratic Union emerged as the relative winner of the election, but failed to obtain an outright majority. The opposition centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia achieved their best result ever as a party, but were unsuccessful in their attempt to become the strongest single party. The election resulted in the formation of the Sanader II cabinet supported by HDZ, HSS, HSLS and the representatives of national minorities.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Electoral lists
Croatian political parties and independent lists had to formally submit their candidates and eventual pre-election coalitions not later than 30 October. 3585 people from political parties or independent lists applied for the elections (22 people per seat). There were 235 political party lists, 16 independent lists and 72 candidates for minority seats. 29.93% of the candidates were women. The average age of the candidates was 43.41 years old; 44.70 for men, and 40.40 for women. The oldest candidate was 89, and the youngest 18. The State Electoral Committee had to confirm the lists before midnight of 2 November.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Electoral lists, Election spending
On 11 December 2007 GONG and Transparency International Croatia had published media spending of all Croatian political parties during the election period. This numbers are :


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 12 electorates in Croatia
Since 1999 Croatia has been divided into 10 geographically-based electorates with around 250 000 - 300 000 registered voters. Each electorate elects up to 14 MPs chosen by the standard D'Hondt formula.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 12 electorates in Croatia
In the 11th electorate, up to 12 members are chosen by proportional representation - depending on a number of voters in Croatia - to represent Croatian citizens residing abroad (known as the diaspora electorate) and 8 members from ethnic/national minorities.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 12 electorates in Croatia
It has to be noted that in Croatia, the official threshold is 5% for parties and coalitions. However, since the country is divided in 10 voting districts with 14 elected representatives each, sometimes the threshold can be higher, depending on the number of "fallen lists" (lists that don't get at least 5%). If many votes are lost in this manner, a list that gets barely more than 5% will still get a seat, whereas if there is a small number of parties that all pass the threshold, the actual ("natural") threshold is close to 7.15%.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 12 electorates in Croatia
This system is greatly favorable to regional parties, i.e. parties that gain their votes in a single electorate (see IDS, HDSSB), and it is disfavorable to parties that have greater numbers but are widespread throughout the nation (see HSU and HSP).


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 12 electorates in Croatia
This made also the forming of post-electoral coalitions somewhat unpredictable, as the overall success of one of the greatest parties can effectively turn out to be counterproductive if it is achieved at the expense of their foreseeable partner, causing them to not pass the threshold in some or all electorates (it happened to the HDZ-led coalition in previous 2003 election).


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Results, Analysis
Most polls a couple of days before the election were predicting a very tight race between the governing Croatian Democratic Union and the opposition Social Democratic Party of Croatia. On the night of the election, after all the polls around the country closed, all major television networks released the results of the exit polls. All of them showed the social democrats with a slight lead. None of the exit polls, however, took into account the votes coming from the citizens living abroad, which tend to vote for the more conservative option.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Results, Analysis
The first official results published at 9 p.m. showed HDZ with a slight lead. Ivo Sanader gave a victory speech close to midnight saying he will be forming the next government. Despite the election loss, SDP individually as a party achieved its best result ever, even better than the 2000 election result when SDP led a victorious coalition. Most smaller parties lost seats, the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats from the 2003 election, the Croatian Peasant Party also lost 4 seats and the far-right Croatian Party of Rights suffered its worst election results since the 1990s losing 7 seats and winning only 1.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Results, Analysis
National minorities elected 8 representatives through a separate election system: Milorad Pupovac (25,3% of votes), Vojislav Stanimirović (21,5%) and Ratko Gajica (15,8%) for the Serb national minority, Deneš Šoja (47,8%) for the Hungarian minority, Furio Radin (88,8%) for the Italian minority, Zdenka Čuhnil (26%) for the Czech and Slovak minorities, Nazif Memedi (12,8%) for the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Jewish, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach minorities and Šemso Tanković (30,9%) for the Albanian, Bosniak, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Slovene minorities.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
On night of the elections, after first seat projections were announced, the president of the Croatian Democratic Union announced that he spoke with the President of the Republic and that he will be forming the government. A few minutes after him, the president of the Social Democratic Party informed the public that he too spoke with president and that he too was commencing the formation of the government.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
President Mesić explained that his constitutional obligation was to give a mandate to form a government to a person who presents him with convincing proof that they have support of a majority of the newly elected parliament. As the president failed to announce that he will give the mandate to Ivo Sanader, leader of the party with the most seats in the parliament, he was criticised by many for complicating the situation and starting a political crisis. President Mesić responded that he was following article 97 of the Constitution of Croatia.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
HDZ, together with HSU and Roma national minority member Nazif Memedi had 68 of 77 seats required for a majority while SDP, HNS, IDS and SDA together had 67 seats. Therefore, the HSS-HSLS coalition which had 8 seats was instrumental in forming a government. Before the elections, leaders of the coalition stated that they will first speak with the party which wins the most seats (not counting diaspora seats). As this turned out to be HDZ, negotiations between HDZ and HSS-HSLS of a coalition started on 3 December.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
Although HSS-HSLS started negotiating with HDZ, the president of SDP Milanović refused to give up and still claimed that SDP was also in a process of forming of a government because SDP, HNS, IDS and SDA won 150 thousand votes more than HDZ (not counting diaspora). HDSSB had declared support for SDP if SDP-formed government will work "in the interest of Slavonia and Baranja", but Milanović stated that he firmly believed that SDP will form the government even without support from HDSSB.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
Although up until 25 November Ljubo Jurčić still claimed that he was SDP's candidate for premier, on 30 November Milanović announced that he was assuming responsibility for forming SDP-led government. Jurčić confirmed that he thinks that "responsibility for functioning of the government should be distributed among heads of parties and that is the best concept in this circumstances". Heads of HSS-HSLS coalition Adlešič and Friščić declared this decision to be "very important and could influence their decision about who they will support". Adlešić added that Milanović is "much better premier candidate than Jurčić and that SDP would probably have better election results if Milanović made this decision earlier".


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
On 12 December it was announced that coalition talks between HDZ and the HSS-HSLS were close to completion and the odds of HSS-HSLS entering into discussions with SDP were announced by Božidar Pankretić as very low. Three days later, President Mesić held a second round of consultations with parliamentary parties and was reassured that HDZ and HSS-HSLS are finishing their negotiations. Mesić considered that a proof that Sanader had support of the majority of Sabor and handed him a mandate to form a government. Following that announcement, Milanović again reiterated that SDP still hasn't given up on forming a government. Sanader described this behaviour as "not fitting the democratic standards" and that president would have much easier job if SDP just acknowledged their defeat.


2007 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
The first session of the newly elected parliament was called for 11 January 2008, and on 12 January, the parliament approved Sanader's cabinet.


2007 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season
The 2007 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season was the 41st in the club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2007 Telstra Premiership and finished 11th (out of 16).


2007 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season, Season summary
The Sharks began the 2007 season afresh following Stuart Raper's dismissal from the club following its poor 2006 season. The Sharks signed former Brisbane Broncos bad boy Brett Seymour who was sacked by that club last year.


2007 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season, Season summary
2007 was a season of near misses for the largely inexperienced Sharks side with a large number of games lost by 4 points or less. This was highlighted with their points difference of +60; if any of those narrow losses had been won, they would have finished in the top eight, even the top four.


2007 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season, Season summary
Notable wins included a first round shutout of the 2003 premiers Penrith 18-0 (indeed, Penrith went on to win the wooden spoon), a round nine win over the struggling premiers Brisbane at home which pitted NSW hopeful Greg Bird against Queensland captain Darren Lockyer, a golden point win over the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta, the venue of their infamous 74-4 loss just four years earlier and finally a 22-12 win over the Canberra Raiders in Canberra.


2007 Cross River State gubernatorial election
The 2007 Cross River State gubernatorial election was the 6th gubernatorial election of Cross River State. Held on April 14, 2007, the People's Democratic Party nominee Liyel Imoke won the election, defeating Eyo Etim Nyong of the Democratic People's Party.


2007 Cross River State gubernatorial election, Results
Liyel Imoke from the People's Democratic Party won the election, defeating Eyo Etim Nyong from the Democratic People's Party. Registered voters was 1,139,736.


2007 CrossFit Games
The 2007 CrossFit Games were the inaugural CrossFit Games, which were held on June 30 and July 1, 2007, on a ranch in Aromas, California.


2007 CrossFit Games
There was no qualification process for the first Games, and around 70 athletes turned up to participate in the Games, along with around 150 spectators. There were three events, the first one determined randomly on the day.


2007 CrossFit Games
The men's individual competition was won by James Fitzgerald, the women's individual by Jolie Gentry. The Affiliate Cup was awarded to CrossFit Santa Cruz for the best combined team members' individual scores. From its inception, the CrossFit Games have awarded an equal sum in prize money to both the male and female winners of the individual competitions, which in the first year was $500.