Cricket World Cup 2015: Most Runs Scored, Top Wicket-Takers and More Stats
New Zealand and Australia played out what was arguably the match of the tournament so far at the 2015 Cricket World Cup, with the Black Caps getting the better of their fierce rivals by one wicket in a gripping encounter.
The two sides were terrible with the bat, but that was thanks to some inspired bowling performances. Trent Boult was superb with the ball for New Zealand to take five wickets, while Mitchell Starc gave Australia a real chance of victory late on with a blistering spell; he took six wickets in the match.
The second game of the day couldn’t have been more of a contrast, as India easily beat the United Arab Emirates in a hopelessly lopsided affair. The underdogs could only muster a total of 102 and the reigning champions rattled the runs off inside 19 overs with nine wickets to spare.
Here’s a look at how these matches impacted various individual classifications and a closer examination of some of the standout performances on an absorbing day of cricket.
Top 10 Gross Runs Scored
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| Player | Team | Runs |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | 255 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | India | 224 |
| AB De Villiers | South Africa | 217 |
| Shaiman Anwar | UAE | 208 |
| Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 207 |
| Marlon Samuels | West Indies | 192 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 186 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 185 |
| David Miller | South Africa | 180 |
| Samiullah Shenwari | Afghanistan | 176 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Leading Batting Averages
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| JP Duminy | South Africa | 121.0 |
| AB De Villiers | South Africa | 108.5 |
| Niall O'Brien | Ireland | 96.0 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 93.0 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 92.5 |
| David Miller | South Africa | 90.0 |
| Sean Williams | Zimbabwe | 80.0 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 75.0 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | India | 74.7 |
| Aaron Finch | Australia | 74.5 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Strike Rates
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| Player | Team | Runs | SR |
| Andre Russell | West Indies | 69 | 237.93 |
| Farhaan Behardien | South Africa | 10 | 200.00 |
| Kevin O'Brien | Ireland | 50 | 192.30 |
| Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 207 | 188.18 |
| Thisara Perera | Sri Lanka | 47 | 180.76 |
| Rilee Rossouw | Australia | 61 | 156.41 |
| Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 67 | 155.81 |
| AB De Villiers | South Africa | 217 | 155.00 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 36 | 150.00 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 10 | 142.85 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
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Top 10 Wicket Takers
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| Player | Team | Wickets |
| Tim Southee | New Zealand | 13 |
| Trent Boult | New Zealand | 10 |
| Imran Tahir | South Africa | 9 |
| Jerome Taylor | West Indies | 9 |
| Josh Davey | Scotland | 9 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 8 |
| Steven Finn | England | 8 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 8 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 8 |
| Shapoor Zadran | Afghanistan | 7 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Bowling Figures
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| Tim Southee | New Zealand | 33 | 7 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 28 | 6 |
| Trent Boult | New Zealand | 27 | 5 |
| Mitchell Marsh | Australia | 33 | 5 |
| Imran Tahir | South Africa | 45 | 5 |
| Sohail Khan | Pakistan | 55 | 5 |
| Steven Finn | England | 71 | 5 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 25 | 4 |
| Mohammed Shami | India | 35 | 4 |
| Shapoor Zadran | Afghanistan | 38 | 4 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Economy Rates
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| Andy McBrine | Ireland | 26 | 0 | 2.60 |
| Manjula Guruge | United Arab Emirates | 21 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 118 | 8 | 3.33 |
| Jeevan Mendis | Sri Lanka | 18 | 2 | 3.60 |
| Mirwais Ashraf | Afghanistan | 63 | 2 | 3.66 |
| Paul Stirling | Ireland | 60 | 2 | 3.75 |
| Alasdair Evans | Scotland | 76 | 3 | 3.80 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | India | 19 | 1 | 3.80 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 107 | 8 | 3.82 |
| Mohammed Shami | India | 65 | 6 | 3.82 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Day 15's Standout Performers
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Boult and Starc Shine With the Ball
The Auckland venue of Eden Park is renowned for high-scoring matches, but two extraordinary bowling displays from Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc ensured neither team notched a massive total.
Boult was eventually named as man-of-the-match for his exceptional display with the ball, taking five wickets in a blistering spell of bowling. The left-armer decimated the middle-order of this stellar Australia batting line-up and ended up finishing with figures of 5/27.
All five of Boult’s wickets came in his second spell with ball in hand and Freddie Wilde of ESPN Cricinfo had high praise for the Black Caps man:
"We are watching one of the greatest World Cup spells of all time from Trent Boult. #CWC15 #NZvAus #NZ #Aus
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) February 28, 2015"
It was some performance from Boult, but he was very nearly overshadowed by Mitchell Starc. With a meagre total of 151 to defend, Australia looked to be meandering toward an emphatic, embarrassing defeat. But Starc produced an absolute clinic of fast swing-bowling, reducing Australia to 146/9 at one stage in the match.
Former Australian bowler Shane Warne paid tribute to the efforts of Starc, who finished with figures of 6/28:
"What a finish here in NZ. Mitchell Starc was absolutely outstanding, loved the fighting spirit from all the Australian team, wow what a game
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) February 28, 2015"
While the batting faltered and they eventually lost, the Baggy Greens should take some heart from this performance.
Inspired by Starc, the way they made New Zealand fight for every single run was admirable and while the Black Caps will seize some vital momentum from this dramatic victory, you get the impression these two will cross paths again further down the line.
McCullum in Form, Williamson Shows Nerves of Steel
Despite only needing a meagre 152 runs to win this match, Brendon McCullum began the Black Caps innings with his patented aggression. The New Zealand skipper didn’t let the Aussie bowlers settle and was magnificent as he plundered 50 off 24 balls.
In the grand scheme of things, they proved to be vital runs for his team as they just about squeaked over the line. But while the rest of the batting line-up struggled here, as noted by Cricket Record, McCullum is arguably in the form of his life at this World Cup:
"Among the 6 Fastest fifties in Brendon McCullum's ODI career, three of those came in 2015 and rest of three came before 2008. #CWC15 #AUSvNZ
— Cricket Record (@cricinfo_record) February 28, 2015"
The captain definitely played the most eye-catching innings on what was a particularly low-scoring day but arguably the best innings came from Kane Williamson.
When he strode the crease the No. 3 will have felt there was little danger of his team letting this one slip, but as the wickets tumbled, it became apparent the onus was going to be on him to get New Zealand over the line.
And, remarkably, with nine wickets down no less, Williamson struck a gorgeous six back down the ground to take his team to victory. Even the Australian Twitter account paid tribute to the New Zealand batsman for a nerveless piece of skill in unbelievably tense circumstances:
"Gotta respect Kane Williamson. Absolutely clutch! http://t.co/cPoriHSWXz #cwc15 #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/1o2ft6moz3
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) February 28, 2015"
Here's what he had to say in the aftermath:
"Kane Williamson talks through his heroics at Eden Park. #backtheblackcaps pic.twitter.com/VJgIGyfhMP
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 28, 2015"
While the Black Caps have played better matches in this tournament, getting such a narrow win over their fiercest rivals will do wonders for their confidence moving forward.
New Zealand seem to have all the requisite tools needed to win this World Cup and as they showcased in Auckland, they have what it takes to beat the very best sides around.
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