The teams were divided into Group A and Group B. Australia, England, Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Holland belonged to Group A whereas South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, New Zealand, Kenya, Bangladesh and Canada were put in Group B.
The tournament saw the negative sides of many of the top players that were unbelievable for the world. Australian player Shane Warne was banned for a year for being tested positive to a banned substance. The hand injury sustained by South African star Jonty Rhodes in the team’s match against Kenya forced him to quit the tournament. New Zealand star Chris Cairns was in the news after he was asked to leave the Tiger Tiger Club when he consumed too much drink.
Cricket World Cup 2003 was also known for a number of records. Canadian batsman, Davison hit 100 runs in a world cup match against West Indies with 67 balls breaking the world record. Kenya bowler Obuya breaks world cup record for bowling 5 wickets for 24 runs in a match against Sri Lanka. Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram set world cup record for bowling 500 wickets in One Day Internationals in a match against Holland. Ashish Nehra of India breaks Kenya bowler's Collins Obuya world cup record by bowling 6 wickets for 23 runs in a one-day-international in a match against England. Later in the same tournament, Glen Mc Grath of Australia broke Ashish Nehra’s record by bowling 7 wickets for 15 runs in a one-day-international against Namibia setting another record. Australian wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist sets new record for catches in one-day-internationals with 6 catches in one match.
After their 48 run victory against Sri Lanka, the Australian team entered the finals of Cricket World Cup 2003 and grabbed the World Cup beating India by a large margin of 125 runs.
