Teams with the lowest totals in the World Cup

Previously World Cup used to be an event where the professionals collided with amateurs. The group stage matches pitted the associate nations against the elite teams of the world. Over the years, these contests have thrown up some interesting matches and records.

One of the blemishing records that a few cricket teams share is the lowest team score. In 11 World Cups so far, three times batting units have stumbled even before reaching the 50-run mark. Here are a few teams which were wrapped for mediocre totals in the ODI mega event.

Scotland:

The European nation is yet to win a World Cup game despite featuring in three editions. Scotland has shown incredible progress in recent years but a few years ago, they were not so competitive. In their maiden tournament, they were skittled by West Indies for just 68 runs at Leicester. Courtney Walsh was the chief destroyer with three wickets in seven overs.

Bangladesh:

After debuting in 1999 World Cup, Bangladesh stumbled in earlier editions of the tournaments. The Asian side later shocked the world by defeating India in 2007 tournament. There were high hopes from Bangladesh in the 2011 World Cup but West Indies wrecked them in a group stage match. Kemar Roach tore through the top order as Bangladesh was all out for only 58 runs.

Namibia:

One of the biggest mismatches of the 2003 World Cup was Namibia facing Australia. At Potchefstroom, eventual champions Australia batted first and scored 301/6. Glenn McGrath then bowled a remarkable spell of 7/15 to dismiss Namibia for just 45 runs in 14 overs. McGrath’s bowling figures remain the best in tournament’s history.

Canada:

Both the lowest scores in the World Cup are in the name of Canada. Surprisingly, their maiden appearance in the tournament was in 1979. At Old Trafford, England bowled them out for 45 runs. Bob Willis and Chris Old picked up four wickets each.

Canada returned to the World Cup stage in 2003. At Paarl, Sri Lanka knocked them over for just 36 runs. Prabhat Nissanka was the chief destroyer with 4/12. No Canadian batsman registered a double-digit score. Sri Lanka chased the total down in only 28 balls. 36 remains the lowest team total in World Cup history.