McGrath bows out winning Player of the Tournament award

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 29 (UNI) Australia's bowling great Glenn McGrath retired from International cricket amidst a blaze of glory as he was declared the Player of the Tournament at the ICC World Cup which concluded here last night.

The fast bowler, who made his last international appearance in the final of the showpiece event, secured 15 points during the course of the tournament, including three Man-of-the-Match performances.

McGrath's closest rival for the tournament award was Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene who secured 11 points, while McGrath's team-mate, opener Matthew Hayden and New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris finished on nine points each.

The points were allocated by members of the television commentary team at each match with three points being awarded for the Man-of-the-Match, second choice getting two points and the third pick receiving one.

Those points were then added up to produce the Player-of-the- Tournament. All matches, including the final, were included in the process.

McGrath claimed 26 wickets, making him the most successful bowler in a single World Cup. He played in four World Cups.

Throughout his career he picked up 71 World Cup wickets in 39 matches to earn the distinction of being the most successful bowler in the history of the tournament.

McGrath's team-mate Shaun Tait and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan came into the final match jointly placed second at 23 wickets apiece, trailing McGrath by two. But Muralidaran went wicketless while Tait bagged one wicket in Australia's 53-run victory over Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene finished as the second leading run-getter, 111 runs behind Matthew Hayden, with 659 runs.

Hayden, who scored the fastest World Cup century off 66 balls against South Africa in the first round at St.Kitts finished the tournament with 659 runs from 11 games, 14 runs short of India's Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs (683 runs) in a single World Cup.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting was the third leading run-getter with 539 while Scott Styris finished fourth with 499 runs from 10 matches.

UNI