Batsmen ensure a flying start to Cup

The 2003 World Cup has got off to a start like never before: Four centuries in the first three matches — with several big guns yet to g...

The 2003 World Cup has got off to a start like never before: Four centuries in the first three matches — with several big guns yet to get down to business. In 1999, by contrast, the first century came only in the 15th match and in 1996 it took 10 matches to notch three centuries.

This augurs well for fans of big hitting, and especially so for India’s batsman-heavy line-up looking to make amends for the New Zealand tour.

Brian Lara set this tournament alight with his 116 in yesterday’s opener; today, Craig Wishart bludgeoned an unbeaten 172 off a hapless Namibian attack, while Sanath Jayasuriya and Scott Styris slugged it out at Bloemfontein.

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It’s a long way from 1999, when Sachin Tendulkar (140 no) and Rahul Dravid (104 no) plundered the Kenyan attack in Match no. 15. In the 14 matches played before that, the highest score was Saurav Ganguly’s 97, scored in a losing cause against South Africa.

1996 saw only three centuries being scored in the first 10 matches. Nathan Astle set the ball rolling in the very first match though, against England. But after that, only two more centuries were scored in the next nine matches.

Tendulkar scoring 127 not out against Kenya, and Gary Kirsten scoring his World Cup record setting 188 not out against the United Arab Emirates.

The story was quite similar in 1992, where five centuries were scored in the first ten matches, two of them coming in the very first match. Martin Crowe and David Boon scored centuries for New Zealand and Australia, and then, Zimbabwean Andy Flower and Pakistanis Rameez Raja and Aamir Sohail hit tons.

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