A thread on interesting stats, records and facts from every match of Cricket World Cup 2019. Everything mentioned below is from personal memory. I only had a look at the schedule while writing this. Let's take a trip down memory lane.

# 1 (Eng vs RSA) – Imran Tahir becomes first spinner in history to bowl opening over of a World Cup. Ben Stokes takes a blinder and Nasser Hussain’s commentary clip gets viral on internet. You can not do that Ben Stokes. Easy win for England.

# 2 (WI vs Pak) – Pakistan’s losing streak extends to 11 games, their all-time low in ODIs. Their batting was listless against WI’s short bowling and could only put 105. A thumping win for WI.

# 3 (NZ vs SL) – Dimuth Karunaratne becomes only second batsman after Ridley Jacobs to carry bat in World Cup. SL out for a paltry total. A convincing win for NZ.

# 4 (AFG vs Aus) – David Warner is man-of-the-match in his first outing for Australia after the ball-tampering ban. I was working on the game and had alerted GFX, Producers, Big Screen about AUS approaching 4000 balls without a no-ball. Pat Cummins' first ball? He overstepped!

# 5 (RSA vs BD) – Bangladesh score 330 for the first time in ODIs and open the World Cup with a win against South Africa. They had come in the tournament on the back of a tri-series win in Ireland and had given tough time to India in the recent year.

# 6 (Eng vs Pak) – A game for the ages. Pakistan beat WC favourites on the pitch that last year had seen world record 481 runs. Pakistan post 348 despite no one scoring a century and England become first team to lose a WC match despite two 100s [by Buttler & Root].

# 7 (AFG vs SL) – A rain-affected game in Cardiff. SL batting collapses after a good top-order performance. Afghanistan lose chasing a DLS adjusted target. The result could have been different if it was a 50 overs game.

# 8 (RSA vs Ind) – Difficult pitch and Jasprit Bumrah is unplayable on his World Cup debut (two wickets in the Powerplay). Rohit Sharma scores the slowest century of his ODI career and steers India to victory.

# 9 (BD vs NZ) – Chase going on smoothly but Kane Williamson’s wicket sparks a batting collapse and Bangladesh are back in the game. The Kiwi tail held its nerve and NZ won by a close margin.

# 10 (Aus vs WI) – Nathan Coulter-Nile rescues Australia with a 90ish inns after they lost five early wickets. Steve Smith falls victim to a spectacular catch by Sheldon Cottrell at boundary. WI fight till end. The ball on which Chris Gayle got out should have been a free hit.

# 11 (Pak vs SL) – A freakish weather hits UK and this game becomes first victim. It got bright and sunny in Birstol as soon as the game was Abandoned. Considering SL’s poor form and the fact that they have never won vs PAK in WC, it maybe was a game that cost Pak a place in SFs.

# 12 (Eng vs BD) – Jason Roy’s 150 flattens Bangladesh. Easy win for England.

# 13 (AFG vs NZ) – Martin Guptill is out on first ball of the innings but New Zealand recover and easily chase the target. Jimmy Neesham took 5 wickets for the first time in ODIs.

# 14 (Ind vs Aus) – Shikhar Dhawan hits a 100 and Virat Kohli hits the headlines by asking the Oval crowd to cheer Steve Smith who was being booed. Kohli won the 2019 ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for this gesture. Thanks to the cameraman Taqi Raza for capturing that moment.

#15 (RSA vs WI) – Another game falls victim to poor weather. A no-result in Southampton.

# 16 (BD vs SL) – Game abandoned without toss. It was third washed out match, including a warm-up, on which I was supposed to work.

# 17 (Aus vs Pak) – Cloudy day in Taunton. Mohammad Amir takes his first 5-for in ODIs. David Warner knocks a 100. AUS playing with 4 specialist bowlers but PAK find a way to give a wicket to Finch. Still cannot believe Sarfaraz took that single to bring Shaheen on strike.

# 18 (Ind vs NZ) – Another no-result without toss. NZ get one point that would later take them to the semis.

# 19 (Eng vs WI) – Eng vs WI or Jofra Archer vs West Indies? Joe Root becomes first England batsman to score 3 centuries in World Cups (all three coming in last six innings going back to the 2015 edition). Another easy win for Eng.

#20 (SL vs Aus) – SL openers off to a flying start chasing a big total. Comparisons drawn with their chase against India at the same venue in Champions Trophy two years ago. But their lower-order is collapsed and they suffer a heavy defeat.

# 21 (RSA vs AFG) – South Africa’s first win in the tournament. A small target chased comfortably. Considering NRR is an important factor in these tournaments, South Africa blocking deliveries before hitting the winning shot defied logic.

# 22 (Ind vs Pak) – A Rohit Sharma classic makes it Ind 7-0 Pak in WCs. Amir gets Kohli once again. Too many blunders by PAK. No Pak spinner had dismissed Kohli or Dhoni in 8 years still Imad played but Shaheen or Hasnain did not. Malik selected ahead of Haris Sohail. Shocker!

# 23 (WI vs BD) – Only one team chased 300+ in the tournament and that was Bangladesh. A great partnership b/w Shakib and Liton Das.

# 24 (Eng vs AFG) – Morgan becomes first batsman to hit 17 sixes and Rashid Khan becomes first spinner to concede 100 runs in an ODI. England win after putting 397.

# 25 (NZ vs RSA) – NZ unchanged for 6 games in a row. Kane Williamson’s first World Cup century. He keeps his cool in an intense chase and wins it for NZ. Du Plessis wanted to bring Duminy as a sub [cos he was a better fielder] but Ian Gould refused.

# 26 (Aus vs BD) – No big memories from this match except that David Warner at one stage looked on course to score a double century.

# 27 (Eng vs SL) – We can’t thank SL enough for winning this match. It opened the tournament and many interesting scenarios. Ben Stokes fought until end but the tail ditched him.

# 28 (Ind vs AFG) – An unexpected close game. Afghanistan gave India a good run for their money and fell 11 runs short of target. Shami took a hat-trick in the last over to seal the win.

# 29 (NZ vs WI) – Carlos Brathwaite. Remember the name? A Kolkata-esque performance unfolding but this time “the dream diminished” a few inches from the boundary where Boult held a great catch. Brathwaite added 41 runs for the last wicket with Thomas, who didn’t score any run.

# 30 (Pak vs RSA) – Haris Sohail showed why he was wrongly dropped. His brisk 89 runs brought Pakistan back in the tournament.

# 31 (BD vs AFG) – Shakib continues his terrific form in the WC, becomes only second player – after Yuvraj Singh – to score 50 and take 5 wickets in a WC match. AFG’s 7th consecutive defeat.

# 32 (Eng vs Aus) – Starc bowls an unplayable yorker to Stokes. England suffer another defeat and are now staring at WC exit. Their next two games, vs India and NZ, are must-win.

# 33 (NZ vs Pak) – Babar Azam wins the day with a 100. Maybe the best WC inns for Pakistan since Imran Khan's 72 in the 1992 Final. Remember telling Baz McCullum that Hafeez twice got out to part-timers [Markram & Finch] and couple of balls later he got out again [to Williamson].

# 34 (WI vs Ind) – WI lose and are out of the race. Their 6th consecutive WC without reaching the semis.

# 35 (SL vs RSA) – A dull affair in Durham. Pakistan needed South Africa to win and they did. Remember QdK conceding a bye for the first time in the tournament. Game was boring but Newcastle, where we stayed, was exciting.

# 36 (Pak vs AFG) – Imad Wasim seizes the chase and Pakistan live another day. How beautiful was Wahab Riaz's six on one knee off Rashid Khan? Remember watching this game in Edgbaston’s media area with the British media. They wanted Afghanistan to win.

# 37 (NZ vs Aus) – NZ listless against Starc, who takes 5 wickets. Trent Boult earlier took second hat-trick of the tournament.

# 38 (Eng vs Ind) – India’s first defeat in the tournament when the entire subcontinent, including Pakistan, wanted them win. Jonny Bairstow scores a 100. India hit only one six in the inns which came in the last over.

# 39 (SL vs WI) – A dead-rubber. Both teams are already out of the semis. Avishka Fernando and Nicholas Pooran provide a glimpse into the future with centuries. Rihanna makes an appearance.

# 40 (BD vs Ind) – Bangladesh lose and are out of the semis. India qualify. Rohit Sharma becomes only second batsman, after Kumar Sangakkara, to score four 100s in a World Cup.

# 41 (Eng vs NZ) – England win and qualify for the semis after six World Cups. A heart-break for Pakistan as they are virtually out of the semis race.

# 42 (AFG vs WI) – Another dead-rubber. WI get a consolation win and Afghanistan end their WC campaign without winning any game.

# 43 (Pak vs BD) – Imam scores 100 and Babar falls four runs short. Pakistan must bowl out BD for 7 to qualify for the semis. Shaheen Afridi takes 6 wickets – youngest ever to take a five-for in WC and best figures for Pak in WC.

# 44 (SL vs Ind) – Rohit Sharma becomes only second batsman, after Sir Clyde Walcott, in 142 years history of international cricket to score 5 centuries in one series/tournament. India win.

#45 (Aus vs RSA) – South Africa turn up very late and beat Australia after a century by Faf du Plessis. Had Australia won this match, the semi-finals would then be Aus vs NZ and Ind vs Eng.

# SF1 (NZ vs Ind) – 5th consecutive defeat for India in Semi-Finals or Finals of ICC tournaments (WT20, WC, CT). Also, third consecutive failure for Virat Kohli in WC Semi Finals. Dhoni was run out by a brilliant throw from Guptill. What if the game had not gone into reserve day?

# SF2 (Eng vs Aus) – Surprise surprise. Australia lose WC Semi Final for the first time in history. They hadn’t lost any of the previous seven semi-finals. The result ensures there will be a new World Cup winner after 23 years.

Final (Eng vs NZ) – First ever super-over in the history of One Day Internationals and it is tied too. Nothing can separate these two teams except boundaries. England win World Cup BY THE BAREST OF MARGINS. BY THE BAREST OF ALL MARGINS. Arguably, the greatest cricket match ever.