Cricket World Cup 2015: Top Run-Scorers, Wicket-Takers After 1st Quarter-Final
Imran Tahir (4-26) and Jean-Paul Duminy (3-29) were the main heroes as South Africa beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets on Wednesday, thrusting their team into the 2015 Cricket World Cup semi-finals with a stunning performance against one of the competition's dark horses.
Quinton de Kock's unbeaten 78 allowed South Africa to easily topple the 134-run chase, with AB de Villiers' side making light work of a Sri Lanka outfit that will be extremely disappointed with its efforts.
Read on to find out how the first quarter-final impacted the individual stats rankings.
Top 10 Gross Run-Scorers
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| Player | Team | Runs |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 541 |
| Brendan Taylor | Zimbabwe | 433 |
| AB de Villiers | South Africa | 417 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 395 |
| Mahmudullah | Bangladesh | 344 |
| Sean Williams | Zimbabwe | 339 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | India | 337 |
| Hashim Amla | South Africa | 323 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq | Pakistan | 316 |
| Shaiman Anwar | UAE | 311 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Batting Averages
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| Sarfraz Ahmed | Pakistan | 150.00 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 108.20 |
| Mahmudullah | Bangladesh | 86.00 |
| AB de Villiers | South Africa | 83.40 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 83.00 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 75.25 |
| Brendan Taylor | Zimbabwe | 72.16 |
| Suresh Raina | India | 70.66 |
| David Miller | South Africa | 68.75 |
| Sean Williams | Zimbabwe | 67.80 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Strike Rates
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| Player | Team | Runs | SR |
| Dinesh Chandimal | Sri Lanka | 52 | 216.66 |
| Farhaan Behardien | South Africa | 74 | 205.55 |
| Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 257 | 190.37 |
| Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 257 | 187.59 |
| Andre Russell | West Indies | 84 | 186.66 |
| James Faulkner | Australia | 23 | 176.92 |
| Tawanda Mupariwa | Zimbabwe | 19 | 172.72 |
| Tim Southee | New Zealand | 12 | 171.42 |
| Brad Haddin | Australia | 119 | 163.01 |
| Nasir Hossain | Bangladesh | 11 | 157.14 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
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Top 10 Wicket-Takers
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| Player | Team | Wickets |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 16 |
| Mohammed Shami | India | 15 |
| Trent Boult | New Zealand | 15 |
| Imran Tahir | South Africa | 15 |
| Josh Davey | Scotland | 15 |
| Morne Morkel | South Africa | 14 |
| Jerome Taylor | West Indies | 14 |
| Wahab Riaz | Pakistan | 14 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 13 |
| Tim Southee | New Zealand | 13 |
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 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 14 | 4 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 18 | 4 |
| Kyle Abbott | South Africa | 21 | 4 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Top 10 Economy Rates
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| Michael Clarke | Australia | 14 | 1 | 2.80 |
| Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 178 | 13 | 3.21 |
| James Tredwell | England | 25 | 1 | 3.57 |
| Jeevan Mendis | Sri Lanka | 18 | 2 | 3.60 |
| Mirwais Ashraf | Afghanistan | 63 | 2 | 3.66 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 136 | 16 | 3.67 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | India | 19 | 1 | 3.80 |
| Dwayne Smith | West Indies | 27 | 1 | 3.85 |
| Ravi Bopara | England | 31 | 2 | 3.87 |
| Sohaib Maqsood | Pakistan | 24 | 1 | 4.00 |
All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo.
Standout Performers
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South African Spin Bowlers Flummox Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka will look back on this match and wonder exactly what went wrong. While they struggled with South Africa's intensity right from the first ball, spin bowlers Tahir (4-26) and Duminy (3-29) underlined the palpable strength in depth AB de Villers' side possesses.
Tahir continues to force himself up the individual rankings. He sits one wicket behind Australia's Mitchell Starc for the tournament, pushing his total to 15 in seven matches with his four-wicket haul on Wednesday. He came close to replicating the five for 45 he took against the West Indies, posting another set of bowling figures that deserves to grab the headlines.
Duminy wasn't far behind and became the first for South Africa to take a World Cup hat-trick. He isn't a prolific wicket-taker by any means—he now has five for the tournament—but his improving form highlights a South African side that showed increased ruthlessness against a Sri Lankan team that just couldn't adapt.
Sky Sports tweeted Duminy's most notable wicket:
"WATCH: JP Duminy takes a hat-trick at the #CWC15 #fireitup. See the action on Sky Sports World Cup http://t.co/tBr7bawEt1
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) March 18, 2015"
HT Sports and comedian Andy Zaltzman highlighted how Duminy performed well beyond expectations:
"Duminy, first #SA player to take a hattrick at the World Cup. 'Bowling weak link' http://t.co/QUviIZEY62 #SLvSA pic.twitter.com/Gr4U81hDJy
— HT Sports (@HTSportsNews) March 18, 2015"
"JP Duminy has a World Cup hat-trick. I repeat: JP Duminy has a World Cup hat-trick. Not a sentence I was expecting to type today.
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) March 18, 2015"
Both Tahir and Duminy will give South Africa's next opponents plenty to think about. It's easy to overemphasise pace bowling when vital wickets are needed, but the South Africans spotted a weakness and ran with it. This sharpness will have supporters growing increasingly optimistic when the semi-finals begin.
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