[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

October

Group Stage

Thursday 5th - England vs New Zealand, Ahmedabad (New Zealand win by 9 wickets)
Friday 6th - Pakistan vs Netherlands, Hyderabad (Pakistan win by 86 runs)
Saturday 7th - Afghanistan vs Bangladesh, Dharamshala (Bangladesh win by 6 wickets)
Saturday 7th - South Africa vs Sri Lanka, Delhi (South Africa win by 102 runs)
Sunday 8th - Australia vs India, Chennai (India win by 6 wickets)
Monday 9th - New Zealand vs Netherlands, Hyderabad (New Zealand win by 99 runs)
Tuesday 10th - England vs Bangladesh, Dharamshala (England win by 137 runs)
Tuesday 10th - Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Hyderabad (Pakistan win by 6 wickets)
Wednesday 11th - Afghanistan vs India, Delhi (India win by 8 wickets)
Thursday 12th - Australia vs South Africa, Lucknow (South Africa win by 134 runs)
Friday 13th - Bangladesh vs New Zealand, Chennai (New Zealand win by 8 wickets)
Saturday 14th - Pakistan vs India, Ahmedabad (India win by 7 wickets)
Sunday 15th - England vs Afghanistan, Delhi (Afghanistan win by 69 runs)
Monday 16th - Australia vs Sri Lanka, Lucknow (Australia win by 5 wickets)
Tuesday 17th - South Africa vs Netherlands, Dharamshala (Netherlands win by 38 runs)
Wednesday 18th - Afghanistan vs New Zealand, Chennai (New Zealand win by 149 runs)
Thursday 19th - Bangladesh vs India, Pune (India win by 7 wickets)
Friday 20th - Australia vs Pakistan, Bangalore (Australia win by 62 runs)
Saturday 21st - Netherlands vs Sri Lanka, Lucknow (Sri Lanka win by 5 wickets)
Saturday 21st - England vs South Africa, Mumbai (South Africa win by 229 runs)
Sunday 22nd - India vs New Zealand, Dharamshala (India win by 4 wickets)
Monday 23rd - Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Chennai (Afghanistan win by 8 wickets)
Tuesday 24th - Bangladesh vs South Africa, Mumbai (South Africa win by 149 runs)
Wednesday 25th - Australia vs Netherlands, Delhi (Australia win by 309 runs)
Thursday 26th - England vs Sri Lanka, Bangalore (Sri Lanka win by 8 wickets)
Friday 27th - Pakistan vs South Africa, Chennai (South Africa win by 1 wicket)
Saturday 28th - Australia vs New Zealand, Dharamshala (Australia win by 5 runs)
Saturday 28th - Bangladesh vs Netherlands, Kolkata (Netherlands win by 87 runs)
Sunday 29th - England vs India, Lucknow (India win by 100 runs)
Monday 30th - Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan, Pune (Afghanistan win by 7 wickets)
Tuesday 31st - Bangladesh vs Pakistan, Kolkata (Pakistan win by 7 wickets)


November

Wednesday 1st - New Zealand vs South Africa, Pune (South Africa win by 190 runs)
Thursday 2nd - India vs Sri Lanka, Mumbai (India win by 302 runs)
Friday 3rd - Afghanistan vs Netherlands, Lucknow (Afghanistan win by 7 wickets)
Saturday 4th - New Zealand vs Pakistan, Bangalore (Pakistan win by 21 runs, DLS)
Saturday 4th - England vs Australia, Ahmedabad (Australia win by 33 runs)
Sunday 5th - India vs South Africa, Kolkata (India win by 243 runs)
Monday 6th - Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Delhi (Bangladesh win by 3 wickets)
Tuesday 7th - Australia vs Afghanistan, Mumbai (Australia win by 3 wickets)
Wednesday 8th - England vs Netherlands, Pune (England win by 160 runs)
Thursday 9th - Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, Bangalore (New Zealand win by 5 wickets)
Friday 10th - Afghanistan vs South Africa, Ahmedabad (South Africa win by 5 wickets)
Saturday 11th - Australia vs Bangladesh, Pune (Australia win by 8 wickets)
Saturday 11th - England vs Pakistan, Kolkata (England win by 93 runs)
Sunday 12th - India vs Netherlands, Bangalore (India win by 160 runs)

Knockout Stage

Wednesday 15th - India vs New Zealand, Mumbai (India win by 70 runs)
Thursday 16th - South Africa vs Australia, Kolkata (Australia win by 3 wickets)

Sunday 19th - India vs Australia, Ahmedabad (Australia win by 6 wickets)

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Cricket World Cup Records





Highest score: Australia 417-6 vs Afghanistan (Perth, 4th March 2015)
Lowest score: Canada 36 all out vs Sri Lanka (Paarl, 19th February 2003)
Highest match aggregate: 714 runs, Australia vs Bangladesh (Trent Bridge, 20th June 2019)
Lowest match aggregate: 73 runs, Canada vs Sri Lanka (Paarl, 19th February 2003)
Highest successful run chase: Ireland 329-7 vs England (Bangalore, 2nd March 2011)
Highest margin of victory: 275 runs, Australia vs Afghanistan (Perth, 4th March 2015)
Highest run-scorer: Sachin Tendulkar - 2,278
Highest average: Lance Klusener - 124.00
Biggest innings: 237 not out, Martin Guptill vs West Indies (Wellington, 21st March 2015)
Fastest double century: 138 balls, Christopher Gayle vs Zimbabwe (Canberra, 24th February 2015)
Fastest century: 50 balls, Kevin O'Brien vs England (Bangalore, 2nd March 2011)
Fastest half-century: 18 balls, Brendan McCullum vs England (Wellington, 20th February 2015)
Most sixes in an innings: 17, Eoin Morgan vs Afghanistan (Old Trafford, 18th June 2019)
Highest partnership: 372, Marlon Samuels & Christopher Gayle vs Zimbabwe (Canberra, 24th February 2015)
Most centuries in a tournament: 5, Rohit Sharma (2019)
Most half-centuries in a tournament: 7, Sachin Tendulkar & Shakib Al Hasan (2003 & 2019)
Most runs in a tournament: 673, Sachin Tendulkar (2003)
Most sixes in a tournament: 26, Christopher Gayle (2015)


Highest wicket-taker: Glenn McGrath - 71
Lowest average: Mitchell Starc - 14.81
Lowest economy rate: Anderson Roberts - 3.24
Most wickets in a tournament: 27, Mitchell Starc (2019)
Best bowling figures: 7-15, Glenn McGrath vs Namibia (Potchefstroom, 27th February 2003)
Most extras conceded in an innings: 59, Scotland vs Pakistan (Chester-le-Street, 20th May 1999)


Record 1st-wicket partnership: 282, Tillakaratne Dilshan & Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe (Kandy, 10th March 2011)
Record 2nd-wicket partnership: 372, Christopher Gayle & Marlon Samuels, West Indies vs Zimbabwe (Canberra, 24th February 2015)
Record 3rd-wicket partnership: 237*, Rahul Dravid & Sachin Tendulkar, India vs Kenya (Bristol, 23rd May 1999)
Record 4th-wicket partnership: 204, Michael Clarke & Brad Hogg, Australia vs Netherlands (Basseterre, 18th March 2007)
Record 5th-wicket partnership: 256*, JP Duminy & David Miller, South Africa vs Zimbabwe (Hamilton, 15th February 2015)
Record 6th-wicket partnership: 162, Alex Cusack & Kevin O'Brien, Ireland vs England (Bangalore, 2nd March 2011)
Record 7th-wicket partnership: 116, MS Dhoni & Ravindra Jadeja, India vs New Zealand (Old Trafford, 9th July 2019)
Record 8th-wicket partnership: 117, David Houghton & Iain Butchart, Zimbabwe vs New Zealand (Hyderabad, 10th October 1987)
Record 9th-wicket partnership: 126, Kapil Dev & Syed Kirmani, India vs Zimbabwe (Tunbridge Wells, 18th June 1983)
Record 10th-wicket partnership: 71, Andy Roberts & Joel Garner, West Indies vs India (Old Trafford, 9th June 1983)

[themaclad]

The first final Australia v West Indies great game of cricket like the old Gillette Cup used to be, nowadays just seems to be a slog fest not helped by using two balls per innings

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Venues





Batting Favourability (By First Innings Average)

1. Pune (297)
2. Hyderabad (275)
3. Bangalore (244)
4. Kolkata (234)
5. Mumbai (227)
6. Chennai (227)
7. Ahmedabad (226)
8. Lucknow (220)
9. Delhi (214)
10. Dharamsala (206)


Pace vs Spin Bowling Favourability (By % Wickets Lost To Pace/Spin)

1. Pune (75/25)
2. Hyderabad (68/32)
3. Dharamsala (68/32)
4. Ahmedabad (65/35)
5. Delhi (64/36)
6. Mumbai (64/36)
7. Bangalore (63/37)
8. Chennai (62/38)
9. Kolkata (59/41)
10. Lucknow (50/50)

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Jos Buttler ©, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.

Becoming the first nation to hold both white-ball World Cups at once last autumn wasn't quite in the script for England; yet somehow, as things do, it came to pass.  The narrative until then had been of a colossus in decline, newly shorn of its talismanic leader Eoin Morgan, lacking the young blood and zeal for victory that might have prevented 2021's semi-final defeat.  But whether the Bazballing red-ball revival put fresh wind into English sails, or pundits simply underestimated the team who've consistently been pushing the boundaries (often literally) of limited-overs cricket since 2016, skipper Jos Buttler and the newly-rehabilitated Alex Hales managed to carry the run burden on their backs - at least until Ben Stokes' timely half-century swung the chase in the final - while Sam Curran, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid consistently kept opponents on a leash, and the result was another round of glory for the golden generation in the autumn of their careers.

Still, twelve months on the whispers are back.  And they're not without foundation.  England's squad has a median age well in the thirties (and would have been older still had Harry Brook not replaced Jason Roy at the last minute), Ben Stokes has felt compelled to rescind his own retirement like some bucket-hatted Arthur striding forth from Avalon, and England slipped to 5th in the world ODI rankings after a post-T20 World Cup whitewash in Australia, a series defeat in South Africa and a tour of Bangladesh where even the Tigers gave us a bloody nose.  So the team that's been cobbled together in the past month - and managed, to their credit, a series win over New Zealand - has something of a makeshift feel to it despite the wealth of talent in its ranks.  This isn't the well-drilled, well-oiled machine that Morgan took soaring into the stratosphere in 2019, but a clanking contraption that could just as easily explode on the launchpad as hit light speed.

But if England are going to wither in the fiery furnace of an Indian autumn, we're liable to know sooner rather than later; the cagey conditions in Ahmedabad and Dharamsala will be an immediate test of character, and Bangladesh in particular shouldn't be underestimated in the shadow of the Himalayas, where low clouds favour the pacers in the second innings and the short boundaries can tempt rash shots even from the best.  Elsewhere, the ICC have outdone themselves in pitting England against the rest of the subcontinent in the most spin-friendly conditions - India in Lucknow, Pakistan in Kolkata and Sri Lanka in Bangalore, though we're at least in Delhi for Afghanistan and mercifully spared Chennai altogether - while the encounter with the Netherlands in the batsman's paradise of Pune could be one for the record books.  And on the subject of record books, 140 more runs for Joe Root in this tournament will make him England's greatest World Cup run-scorer of all time, surpassing Graham Gooch, while 10 wickets for Chris Woakes will lift him above Ian Botham as our World Cup bowling GOAT.

The truth is, England in this World Cup are a walking metaphor for one-day cricket: ageing action heroes planning one final heist, parachuting in from the land that created the format to the land that's fast making it irrelevant.  We don't know whether there'll be a new generation to replace this golden one, as our best youngsters learn to face a hundred balls rather than fifty overs, any more than we know whether the ICC will still regard ODIs as a commercially viable format in a decade's time.  But if these golden boys are the last Englishmen to ever conquer the world in fifty overs, then may their farewell gig be as long, sweet and fitting as they deserve.

Highest World Cup total: 397-6 vs Afghanistan (Old Trafford, 2019)
Lowest World Cup total: 93 vs Australia (Leeds, 1975)
Highest World Cup innings: 158, Andrew Strauss vs India (Bangalore, 2011)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 5-39, Victor Marks vs Sri Lanka (Taunton, 1983)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Graham Gooch, 897 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Ian Botham, 30 wickets


Tournament Schedule: New Zealand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Netherlands, Pakistan

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Rohit Sharma ©, Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

For the last three tournaments on the trot, the World Cup has been lifted by a host nation, and it would be a brave man who bet against that becoming four in four come November. It's not just that the subcontinent is such a fortress - after all, 1987 and 1996 demonstrated that even India can crumble under the harsh glare of home expectations - it's the wealth of white-ball talent at their disposal too. Rohit Sharma averaged a century every other match in 2019 - had India made the final, it's probable he'd have toppled Tendulkar's scoring record for the tournament - while Virat Kohli managed to surpass Sourav Ganguly's career World Cup haul and now stands second only to Sachin. Mohammed Shami is in with a chance of becoming India's greatest World Cup wicket-taker in this edition (14 more will do the job), while Jasprit Bumrah remains the most feared yorker-merchant on the circuit when he can stay fit.

Indeed, if there is an Achilles heel to this Indian side then fitness and form are the likely candidates, though any country which can replace an injured Axar Patel with the likes of Ravi Ashwin is hardly struggling for strength in depth. In the last month they've been beaten on home soil by Australia and Bangladesh, with Rohit copping a rare duck in the latter, but the Asia Cup final was a historic steamrollering of Sri Lanka, and there have been centuries galore for the various rotating top order batsmen so far this autumn. Sharma looks to have injected his side with the Eoin Morgan spirit going into the tournament; whether he can maintain it if things start to get hairy is another matter.

An opening encounter with Australia in Chennai should be a mouth-watering tussle, though it pales beside the real duck-and-cover stuff when Ahmedabad hosts the first ODI versus Pakistan on Indian soil in over a decade.  Pakistan are, of course, the one opposition devoid of IPL experience in their squad, but for other countries it could be the kind of boon that was missing in 2011. Because if a team other than India are crowned as world champions six weeks from now, then they'll more than likely have taken on the would-be kings in their own backyard and come out on top.

Highest World Cup total: 413-5 vs Bermuda (Port of Spain, 2007)
Lowest World Cup total: 125 vs Australia (Centurion, 2003)
Highest World Cup innings: 183, Sourav Ganguly vs Sri Lanka (Taunton, 1999)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 6-23, Ashish Nehra vs England (Durban, 2003)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Sachin Tendulkar, 2,278 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Javagal Srinath & Zaheer Khan, 44 wickets


Tournament Schedule: Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Pat Cummins ©, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Five-time champions they may be, but gone are the days when Australia were the default winners of any World Cup that couldn't cough up a suitable challenger, at least in the men's game. Which isn't to say that they lack quality - Mitchell Starc goes into this edition as the new greatest wicket-taker in a single tournament, and could topple Glenn McGrath off another perch as the all-time best wicket-taker with 23 scalps this time round, while the weight of runs that could flow from Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Carey, late call-up Marnus Labuschagne and World Cup debutant Travis Head should comfortably carry Aus past the group stage - but when the chips are down, the boys from the bush can often choke. And the retirement of former skipper Aaron Finch from international cricket earlier in the year, passing the baton onto the same Pat Cummins who looked frequently bereft of ideas in the back half of the Ashes, isn't liable to help on that front.

World #1 bowler Josh Hazlewood, missing in 2019 due to a back injury, will return to the World Cup with gusto in the pace attack alongside Cummins and Starc, but the question mark by his name is the same hovering over so many of the Aussies: can he do it in India? Just one ODI wicket there to date suggests he may not be the solution, and in the same vein, Adam Zampa will be under enormous pressure as the frontline spinner, not least in their tournament opener against the hosts in Chennai. Yet as a team they came from behind to win March's bilateral series, bowled out for 188 in Mumbai before skittling India for even less in Visakhapatnam (Starc and Sean Abbott the pick of the bowlers), then clinching a tight, low-scoring decider in Chennai where Zampa took 4-45 to tear through the middle order. Repeat that performance on the tournament's first weekend and the spirit of '87 might just come flooding back for these slumbering giants.

Highest World Cup total: 417-6 vs Afghanistan (Perth, 2015)
Lowest World Cup total: 129 vs India (Chelmsford, 1983)
Highest World Cup innings: 178, David Warner vs Afghanistan (Perth, 2015)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 7-15, Glenn McGrath vs Namibia (Potchefstroom, 2003)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Ricky Ponting, 1,743 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Glenn McGrath, 71 wickets


Tournament Schedule: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Kane Williamson ©, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young.

There's an old Simpsons gag that has Lisa, repeatedly bested by her new rival, imagining herself onstage with the Second Best Band In America - consisting of Art Garfunkel, Jim Messina and John Oates - playing their #2 hit, Born To Be Runner-Up. One suspects that similar visions may have plagued Kane Williamson in the last four years, after his New Zealand side lost their second final on the trot (on a technicality, if we're honest), adding that failure to the six occasions the Kiwis have been losing semi-finalists.

So, is this their year at last? Well, if so then they're certainly lulling the rest of the world into a false sense of security. Eight wins from twenty ODIs in 2023, including a 3-0 defeat on Indian soil, does not resemble the record of champions-elect. But much of the year has been hampered by injury crises, and even Williamson himself - victim of an ACL problem in the spring that sidelined him for months - was a doubt for this tournament. They've successfully coaxed all-time great Trent Boult back into the fold to send down thunderbolts at the top and tail of the innings alongside fellow pacers Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson, and the frontline spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have been in enormous demand by franchises around the world, emphasising just what a job they can do with the white ball. Wickets, therefore, are unlikely to be a problem. But what about runs? Like Boult, Martin Guptill was dropped from his central contract last year after a poor run of form, but unlike Boult he hasn't been invited back. Fellow 2019 opener Henry Nicholls failed to make the cut after a low-scoring year, while promising youngster Finn Allen has been passed over entirely; the mercurial partnership of Devon Conway and Will Young are therefore liable to open the batting, both of them additions since the last tournament. What Williamson can achieve at number three is well known, and the middle-order power of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham will take some sides apart. If they're consistent. And if they stay fit. If, if, if.

After the chance for revenge against England in Ahmedabad on opening day, a fairly friendly schedule allows them to build momentum versus Netherlands, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before taking on the heavyweights; look out for fireworks when they take on South Africa at batting-friendly Pune. Williamson is 165 away from replacing Stephen Fleming as his nation's greatest World Cup run-scorer, while Trent Boult will almost certainly extend his own lead at the top of the wicket charts after becoming New Zealand's GOAT in 2019. But individual achievements aren't what the Blackcaps are in town for. The golden generation have been foiled twice, and the bell's ringing at the last chance saloon; if it's going to happen at all for New Zealand, it has to be now.

Highest World Cup total: 393-6 vs West Indies (Nelson, 2015)
Lowest World Cup total: 112 vs Australia (Port Elizabeth, 2003)
Highest World Cup innings: 237*, Martin Guptill vs West Indies (Wellington, 2015)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 7-33, Tim Southee vs England (Wellington, 2015)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Stephen Fleming, 1,075 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Trent Boult, 39 wickets


Tournament Schedule: England, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Babar Azam ©, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.

Predicting what Pakistan are going to do in any given tournament is the most thankless task going, not least because it so often seems to be a mystery to Pakistan themselves. So I wrote in 2019, shortly before the 2017 Champions Trophy winners crashed out in the group stage of the last World Cup, and Pakistan haven't stopped embracing the chaos since; the head coach position is a revolving door, the PCB play musical chairs on a monthly basis, and what Mickey Arthur's role is at any given time seems a lottery. And yet they were runners-up to England in last year's T20 World Cup and have risen to #1 in the current ODI rankings, because when all's said and done, the men in green are only ever one win away from an impromptu white-ball revival.

The team is pretty settled: Fakhar Zaman and Imam ul Haq open the batting, skipper Babar Azam - the beating heart of the squad - completes the top order alongside Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan slots in nicely as an all-rounder, while the pace attack of Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi are a formidable arsenal. Having begun the summer at Colwyn Bay and then risen meteorically the highest pinnacle of English cricket by playing for Worcestershire, Usama Mir will also go to India as an extra spinner, though whether his leg-breaks and six-hitting will dislodge the established Iftikhar Ahmed or young Salman Agha from their middle-order positions remains to be seen; indeed, if Pakistan have a glaring weak spot, it's the determination to pack the heart of the line-up with men who can bat a bit and rattle through a few overs rather than backing someone who can reliably produce turn, bounce and variations, or simply putting an extra dedicated batsman in. Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz were in iffy form for the Asia Cup, and Pakistan can't trust to pace and fortune for wickets on Indian pitches; though dropped for poor form himself in August, Usama could prove their saviour in the coming six weeks.

The legend of 1992 casts a long shadow over Pakistani one-day cricket, and though they're unlikely on paper to replicate that sole triumph in the backyard of their arch-enemy, with a fairly gentle start to the campaign in batting-friendly Hyderabad, what immortality would await these dark horses should they somehow pull off the heist.

Highest World Cup total: 349 vs Zimbabwe (Kingston, 2007)
Lowest World Cup total: 74 vs England (Adelaide, 1992)
Highest World Cup innings: 160, Imran Nazir vs Zimbabwe (Kingston, 2007)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 6-35, Shaheen Shah Afridi vs Bangladesh (Lord's, 2019)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Javed Miandad, 1,083 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Wasim Akram, 55 wickets


Tournament Schedule: Netherlands, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Afghanistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Australia

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Temba Bavuma ©, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Rassie Van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams.

No trophy, no final, and only one knockout game ever won: the South African World Cup litany is a familiar one, and hardly any more comforting for the fact that it was no knockout games until 2015, and the women's side at last broke the finals duck earlier this year. These baby steps towards achieving greatness on the world stage all feel underwhelming for a cricketing powerhouse that's been on the case for over thirty years and has seen golden generations come and go in that time (Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis and Imran Tahir are among the legends to have bowed out since 2019); but conversely, the lack of expectation that record engenders, combined with a team that's looking quietly decent (if not as star-studded and highly-feted as previous squads), raises the possibility of dark-horsedom from the Proteas in India.

Of the top fifteen batsmen in the ODI rankings, five are South African - two more than any other team can boast - while the bowling attack boasts every conceivable option in the formidable aggression of Kagiso Rabada, the left-arm swing of the 6 ft 8 Marco Jansen, the searing pace of Lungi Ngidi and the leftie spin twins of Tabraiz Shamsi (unorthodox, prone to leak runs but also wreck middle orders) and Keshav Maharaj (orthodox and highly economical). Anrich Nortje missing out on a second consecutive tournament due to injury is the sole fly in the ointment, but may open a door for promising youngster Gerald Coetzee, who took four-fer in the win over Australia that sparked the Proteas' remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to take the bilateral series 3-2 in mid-September. Even with that fresh wind in their sails, it'd be a brave man who bet on South Africa to go all the way this time round, but baby steps can take even the wobbliest legs further than they dare imagine.

Highest World Cup total: 411-4 vs Ireland (Canberra, 2015)
Lowest World Cup total: 149 vs Australia (Gros Islet, 2007)
Highest World Cup innings: 188*, Gary Kirsten vs United Arab Emirates (Rawalpindi, 1996)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 5-18, Andrew Hall vs England (Bridgetown, 2007)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Abraham Benjamin de Villiers, 1,207 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Imran Tahir, 40 wickets


Tournament Schedule: Sri Lanka, Australia, Netherlands, England, Bangladesh, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Afghanistan