The best moments of the 2015 Cricket World Cup

World Cups are unpredictable beasts and that includes the Cricket World Cup. All it takes is one casual slip of the hand and it can cost you everything. It’s a sojourn of rousing and back-slapping highs but also contains dark lows and painful exits. Before the tournament begins you have a bunch of unknowns and over the course of six weeks things unfold; players outdo and baffle us, teams fold and produce winning streaks. As fans watching this sport opera unfold before our furrowed brows and strained eyes, we become useless to stop the fervor physically taking over our body like vines on a brick wall, making us anxious or ill when things don’t fall our way on the field.
We are useless to stop the emotions when the human body reacts to a last ball win, that send our arms in the air uncontrollably and voices into fits of boisterous ecstasy. The unpredictability of it all keeps us at bay most of the time, and keeps us paralyzed. No one can tell us how things will pan out. We have to sit and watch and wait. The World Cup is a moment in time where pieces from a puzzle are slowly solved to build an image of a winner at tournament’s end and in between are the momentum swings, the near misses and the sweet joy. Each game is broken down into moments. And each moment has micro moments. These trifling time periods eventually form a large collection of junctures that become stitched in history forever with raw emotion being the glue that sticks it all together.

For example, Australia humbled New Zealand by seven wickets in the final of the World Cup. Michael Clarke stood on the Melbourne Cricket Grounds an hour before the team bus was meant to arrive. That was long before media had set up their live stand-ups. There he was, in the middle of the ground, envisioning the moment – perhaps several moments – where the winning runs or wickets were taken and Australia the victors. At that point anything was possible for both teams. Australia had experience and a wealth of depth; New Zealand had World Cup form and looked dangerous. There Clarke stood in a dreamlike state, crippled in thought before the World Cup final, a game of huge importance where moments unravel and kids become heroes and aging men hoping it all comes together for one last hurrah.

Thare are moments during the six weeks of the World Cup that stood out the most. There was the unfit Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga against New Zealand; a match winner gone cold. There was poor old English bowler Steve Finn’s useless hat trick against the Australians. There was India heartthrob Virat Kohli’s statement hundred against Pakistan. Ireland upset the West Indies by four wicket chasing more than 300. Kiwi Tim Southee’s 7-33 against an embarrassing England was incredible. Sri Lanka’s journeyman Kumar Sangakkara’s record four centuries in a row. The might of India toppling South Africa by 130 runs. The Chris Gayle show of 17 sixes against Zimbabwe. New Zealand’s Martin Guptill’s 237 not out (off 162 balls) over the West Indies in a knockout final. Afghanistan winning their first ever World Cup match at their first ever World Cup appearance.

There were other moments I reflected on throughout the World Cup, too. I thought about the rained-out match between Australia and Bangladesh and how ridiculous it was that it wasn’t replayed, even though there was eons of time to do it before the knockouts. I thought about New Zealand’s postage stamp cricket grounds and how they looked fit for high schoolers. I thought about Australia opener Dave Warner’s 178 in Perth from 133 balls. I thought about Scotland’s cumulative World Cup record of 0-11. They’ll win one, one day. I thought about Misbah ul-Haq’s 56 against South Africa, and Pakistan’s upset win.

And who could forget Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and his 102 from 53 balls that contained shots I’ve never even thought of. And the sole Sri Lankan fan watching his team getting pummeled on TVby himself at Scallywags - a Toronto establishment - at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night when they played the Black Caps. And what about Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum’s third-ball duck when he was bowled off stump by Australia’s Mitchell Starc in the final. I thought about Scotland’s off spinner Majid Haq sent home by his own organization tweeting that they showed a racial bias toward him.

All of these moments were all barely probable. Moments are concrete memories that last forever. Looking back to the beginning of the World Cup when it was just a blank canvass, all these moments weren’t even conceptualized. They weren’t even a thought. No one knew for sure that Australia would play co-host New Zealand in the final. No one knew that South Africa would win their first knockout match – ever. No one could foresee Grant Elliot’s last ditch six against South Africa, to get the Kiwi’s into the final with one ball remaining. No one could have predicted that England would fail to qualify for the knockout rounds, a future host of the World Cup. No one could have forecast a whitewash final where the dominant Kiwis were slaughtered by a rampaging green and gold outfit. Last week, so many pundits predicted a close final or dared to dream about New Zealand’s first ever World Cup win. But it unfolded differently.

Australia won the moments that counted against New Zealand in the World Cup final. They got McCullum cheaply with a ball that will be talked about for years to come; a ball that beat him for pure pace, a man capable of changing the fortunes of any game in 15 minutes. Another series of moments: Williamson out caught and bowled Johnson, Gutpill outbowled Maxwell. The Aussies took 3-39 and sent their best three bats back into the shed. Then when New Zealand seemingly steered to ship back on course at 3-150, with Ross Taylor and Grant Elliot at the helm, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin dove to his right and gloved a ball that broke the partnership.

The match was littered with game-defining moments that shaped the fifth World Cup win for the Aussies. . Up until the final, New Zealand was the best team at the World Cup: they had the leading wicket taker, leading run scorer and had a perfect 8-0 record. And to think, South Africa almost sent them packing in the semifinal in Wellington. And if that happened, there would have been a whole different collection of World Cup moments to savour.