Tag Cricket Records

When incidences repeat after a fixed interval of time - their history becomes important.

Such an incidence is the occurrence of ICC Champions trophy, which was called as ICC Knock Out tournament for the first two times. From 7th October 2006, the fifth ICC Champions trophy will be played in India, so I just thought of crafting an article on which teams or players hold the most important records in previous four occasions.

So if you are generally attracted to some interesting numbers related to cricket, read on..

1. The highest team total's.

The record for highest team total for all Champions trophy so far goes to New Zealand, who made USA cricket team rubbish and went on to score 347 from their 50 overs at the Oval. The fourth Champions trophy in 2004. The difference was made by two batsmen - Nathan Astle and Brain McMillan as they compiled an unbeaten partnership of 136 off last 7.4 overs. Just for information, let me inform you that Astle hit 6 sixes during his 151 ball 145 while McMillan exceeded by one - 27 ball 64 with 2 fours and 7 SIXES.

The top three highest scores in ICC Champions trophies.

1st : New Zealand 347 for 4 vs USA 137 all out at the Brit Oval in London. (4th Champions trophy).
2nd : South Africa 316 for 5 vs Kenya 140 all out at Colombo, Sri Lanka (2nd Champions trophy).
3rd : India 307 for 8 (Tendulkar 141) vs Australia 263 all out at Dhaka, Bangladesh (1st Champions trophy).

2. Lowest team total in ICC Champions trophies.

This "unhappy" record goes to USA again who were beaten by Australia by 9 wickets at Southampton, during the 2nd Champions trophy. USA were bowled out for merely 65 runs in just 24 overs. Australian team came out and chased down the record target in just 7.5 overs. This was one of the shortest One day match in history of ODI cricket.

Three lowest totals in ICC Champions trophies.

3rd : 86 all out - Netherlands against Sri Lanka at Colombo (2nd Champions trophy).
2nd : 77 all out - Bangladesh against New Zealand at Colombo again.
Lowest : As I mentioned above - USA against Australia.


3. Most runs - single batsmen - all champion trophies.

This honour goes to a man who will be cooling his heals when the 5th trophy starts as Sourav Ganguly has played all the previous four Champion trophies, made 665 runs from 13 matches at an average of 73.89. With three centuries. In fact, Sourav Ganguly scored back to back centuries against South Africa in the Semi-final and then final against New Zealand in Kenya to propel Indian team closest to ICC Champions trophy - only to lose it to the hands of Chris Carins.

Top three batsmen with most runs in all ICC Champions trophy matches.

1st : Sourav Ganguly - 665 from 13 matches at 73.89 per match.
2nd : Jacques Kallis - 480 from 10 matches at 68.57 per match.
3rd : Rahul Dravid - 442 from 13 matches at 55.25 per match.

4. Highest individual score in ICC Champions trophy.

This is a statistic where you surely will stop and pay more attention. The record for highest score by a batsmen in all ICC champions trophy goes to Nathan Astle for scoring 145 against 145 against USA that I mentioned above. The second best individual score is against 145, but this time former Zimbabwe wicket-keeper batsman - Andy Flower got out.

Top three highest scores by a batsman in ICC champions trophy.

1st : Nathan Astle - 145 not out against USA.
2nd : Andy Flower - 145 against India at Colombo. Indian team still won that match by 14 runs.
3rd : Sourav Ganguly - 141 against South Africa at Nairobi, Kenya.

5. Most wickets in all Champions trophies.

Now when we start to discuss some bowling records as well, the first name to win this record is Mervyn Dillon. I hope you remember this West Indian fast bowler, who has taken 19 wickets in all to make his the most wicket taker in this tournament's history. Jaques Kallis features again in a bowling record this time as he has taken 15 wickets so far.

The good thing about Kallis is that he is here in India with South African squad for 5th Champions trophy, while Mervyn Dillion has faded away quite some time back. the third most wicket taker is surprisingly Zaheer Khan from India with 15 wickets in all. Same as Kallis but at a little higher average - 24.53 as compared to 23.27 of the South African.

6. Most centuries in ICC champions trophy by a batsman.

It's three. Made by Herschelle Gibbs and Sourav Ganguly. Pakistan comes for the first time in this special list of record holders in champions trophies as Saeed Anwar has scored 3rd most centuries till I write this - 2 in all, with 105 not out as his highest score.

7. The record of best bowling figure in ICC Champions trophy.

In just one One day match, if a bowler takes 5 wickets, the opposition is not supposed to win that match. and thus - this record for most wickets in just one match in Champions trophy becomes really important. And goes to Shahid Afridi for his 5 for 11 against Kenya in that 4th Champions trophy in England. In fact, there are 6 bowlers who have taken 5 wickets in a match in Champions trophies but I have sorted them according to the number of runs they gave away.

The second in this list in Mervyn Dillion with 5 for 29 and third is Jack Kallis with 5 for 30.

I am not sure how much interesting read this article was, but was it at least informative for you??

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