The ICC ODI World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in cricket and it has been going on for almost 50 years and this year the tournament is back after a gap of 4 years. The one in 2019 was a blockbuster and England won it in one of the greatest cricket matches of all time. However, there have been a lot of truly incredible Matches in the history of the tournament going way back to the first edition in 1975.
2023 ODI World Cup is now just days away and scheduled to start from 5th Oct. Complete your 22bet registration and make the upcoming world cup more exciting. Till then, let’s dive into the memory lane and look at the Top 5 Matches in ICC ODI World Cup history and celebrate these matches
1) England vs New Zealand – 2019 World Cup Final
There cannot possibly be any other match that can take the top spot in this list because this match is not only the greatest World Cup match but it is also in the conversation of being the greatest ODI of all time. This was the final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. New Zealand batted first and they made 241 which was not a big score and England should have won but when they came out to bat then they batted 50 overs but they were bowled out for 241 as well and the match went to the Super Over. In the Super Over, England batted first and they made 15 and this was enough but New Zealand also made 15 in the Super Over and the match was a tie and England only won because they had hit more boundaries in their innings.
2) Australia vs South Africa – 1999 World Cup Super Six
This was the greatest World Cup Match for 20 years before the World Cup Final last time around. Australia took on South Africa and this match is still being talked about for how epic it was. South Africa batted first and they made 271 in the first innings and at that time it was enough but Australia were the best team in the world and Lance Klusener dropped the catch that lost South Africa the match and Australia won the match with just 2 balls remaining and they went on to win the World Cup and South Africa have not been able to win an ICC tournament and it all started here.
3) India vs West Indies – 1983 World Cup Final
It is safe to say looking at what has transpired in these 40 years that this was the most important cricket match in history based on how much cricket has changed since this moment. West Indies had won the first 2 World Cups in 1975 and 1979 and in 1983 they were supposed to win the triple and the World Cup concept was set to be over. However something unbelievable happened and in the final India only made 183 but the way the Bowlers bowled in this match and the West Indies team got bundled out for 140 and India won the Cricket World Cup and the sport changed forever and the World Cup became a permanent thing.
4) Ireland vs England – 2011 World Cup
This is probably the most famous win by an associate nation against a full member team in the history of the World Cup and this match saw the making of a star and his name was Kevin O’ Brien. England batted first and they made 327 runs which was considered a match winning score at that time but Ireland had other ideas. It was truly a one man show in this match as the crowd in Bangalore was treated to a special innings which had 13 fours and 6 sixes in it meaning 8( runs out of 113 runs in boundaries. Kevin had a strike rate of 180 in a 50 overs match and he had the record of hitting the fastest World Cup Hundred in 50 balls and Ireland won this match by 3 Wickets with 5 balls remaining.
5) India vs Sri Lanka- 2011 World Cup Final
The 5th best match of this list is yet another final and this is the 2011 World Cup Final which was one of the most evenly contested finals. It was in Mumbai and Sri Lanka made 274 runs in the first innings and India while batting second lost 2 Wickets for 31 Runs but then the young players showed what they are made of and Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli had a great partnership followed by a match winning ome between Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir made 97 runs and MS Dhoni made 91 unbeaten runs and India won the Final and Cricket as a whole got richer.
