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McGrath retires as Player of the Tournament

Twenty20 RSS / / 29 April 2007 /

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74021630.jpgGlenn McGrath crowned a glittering career by winning the World Cup's Player of the Tournament prize with a record 26 wickets.

The 37-year-old bowler's figures of 1-31in victory over Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval were unremarkable, but his sustained brilliance over the seven-week tournament led Australia to their third straight success and to his own third winners' medal.

McGrath's 26 wickets were taken at an average of 13.73 and at an economy rate of 4.41 to place him at the top of the bowling statistics, three wickets clear of team-mate Shaun Tait and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

In 250 one-day internationals McGrath collected 381 wickets and his 71 World Cup victims in 39 games are 16 ahead of the previous mark set by Wasim Akram.

Matthew Hayden's 659 tournament runs took him to the top of the batting statistics and Australian captain Ricky Ponting wants him to delay his retirement for two years.

Having recently lost Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn from the international arena, Ponting does not want to see Hayden and opening partner Adam Gilchrist follow McGrath by riding off into the sunset.
"I am not sure what Gilly is going to do," Ponting told the Sunday Mail.

"There was some talk a couple of years ago, even a year ago, that this [World Cup] was going to be his last one-day tournament, but I haven't heard anything about that here. I would think he would be pretty keen to play on in Tests."

"Matty, just having got back into the one-day side, I don't think he is willing to give it away yet, especially the way he is playing," Ponting said. "He is probably in the form of his life so I wouldn't imagine his one-day career is going to finish too soon.

"I would like to see both of those guys push on for another couple of years. They are not only great mates of mine but great team-mates."

Australia have a break until the Twenty20 world championship in September, which leads into a busy schedule in 2008 featuring a record-breaking number of Tests.

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