A century of World Cup captains will be touched at the ICC World Cup 2015 to be played in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29. So far, 19 teams have been led by 94 captains in 352 matches from the 1975 Prudential World Cup in England to the ICC World Cup 2011 in India.
This number will be taken well past the 100 mark by Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, West Indies’ Jason Holder, Australia’s Michael Clarke, England’s Eoin Morgan, Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, Pakistan’s Misbah-Ul-Haq, Scotland’s Preston Mommsen, South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers, UAE’s Mohammad Tauqir and Bangladesh’s Mashrafe Mortaza. India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ireland’s William Porterfield and Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura have been captains in previous World Cup competitions.
All World Cup squads have been announced in order to meet the ICC mandate for commercial and operational reasons. Australia has even said Geroge Bailey will lead if Clarke needs to be replaced in the event of him not recovering from an injury.
Eight captains have won the prestigious World Cup — West Indies’s Clive Lloyd (1975 and 1979, both at London), Australia’s Ricky Pointing (2003, Johannesburg and 2007. Bridgetown), India’s Kapil Dev (1975, London), Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga (1996, Lahore), Australia’s Allan Border (1987, Calcutta), Australia’s Steve Waugh (1999, London), Pakistan’s Imran Khan (1992) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2011, Mumbai).
The following is the list of captains country-wise:
Australia (7): Allan Border, David Hookes, Ian Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor and Kim Hughes.
Bangladesh (4): Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mashud, Shakib Al Hasan and Aminul Islam.
England (10): Michael Atherton, Mike Brearley, Mike Dennes, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch, Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan and Bob Willis.
India (6): S. Venkatraghavan, M.S. Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, M. Azharuddin, Kapil Dev.
New Zealand (9): Mark Burgess, Jeff Crowe, Martin Crowe, Stephen Fleming, Lee Germon, Geoff Howarth, Ross Taylor, Glenn Turner and Danniel Vettori.
Pakistan (9): Aamer Sohail, Asif Iqbal, Imran Khan, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Majid Khan, Shahid Afridi, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.
South Africa (4): Hansie Cronje, Kepler Wessels, Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock.
Sri Lanka (8): Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Bandula Warnapura, Duleep Mendis, Anura Tennekoon.
UAE (1): Sultan Zarawani.
West Indies (6): Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Darren Sammy.
Zimbabwe (8): Alistair Campbell, Elton Chigumbura, Duncan Fletcher, Andy Flower, David Houghton, Heath Streak, John Traicos and Prosper Utseya.
East Africa (1): Harilal Shah.
Canada (4): A. Bagai, J.M. Davison, J.V. Harris and B.M. Mairicette.
Bermuda (1): I.H. Romaine.
Kenya (4): Asif Karim, J.K.Kamande, Maurice Odumbe, Steve Tikolo.
Namibia (1): D.B. Kotze.
Ireland (3): D.T. Johnston, W.K. MCCallan and William Porterfield.
Holland (5): P.W. Borren, R.P. Lefebvre, S.W.Lubbers, J. Smits, L.P. van Troost.
Scotland (3): G. Salmond, R.R. Watson, C.M. Wright.
