Winning trophies: Habit for some, rarity for most

Thirty five years. That's how long England had to wait for their first ICC tournament triumph. By the time they beat Australia in the World Twenty20 final in Barbados, even Afghanistan had won an ICC competition, albeit the qualifier in February which ensured they too would be 'bringing it' to the Caribbean. England had lost four previous finals (three in the World Cup, one in the Champions Trophy) and had never won a tournament, ICC or otherwise, involving five or more teams. The last time they won a trophy contested by at least four countries was in Sharjah in 1997. In this week's column we've looked at how teams and players fared in tournaments with five or more participants.

Australia and Pakistan have won six each, the most for any country. While Australia's collection includes four World Cups and two Champions Trophies, Pakistan made up the numbers with Austral-Asia and Nehru Cup victories, in addition to their World Cup and World Twenty20 titles. Pakistan were a force in multi-team competitions from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, winning five out of the six tournaments they were involved in. The 1994 Austral-Asia Cup was their last victory for 15 years until they beat Sri Lanka to win the second ICC World Twenty20 in 2009.

Over the years New Zealand have been a safe bet to make the semi-finals. They reached the final four of tournaments with five or more teams 13 times but won only two of those games, both in the Champions Trophy. They won their first final, against India in Nairobi in 2000, but lost to Australia at Centurion in 2009. Incidentally Daniel Vettori, who's been a permanent fixture in New Zealand's XI for seemingly forever, didn't play either of them: he was not part of the victorious squad in Kenya, and suffered a hamstring injury ahead of the final in South Africa. He is one of only four players who've played ten tournaments without a victory.

Wasim Akram and Saleem Malik played in all of Pakistan's first five major tournament victories between 1986 and 1994. Akram took 11 wickets in those five finals at 20.09 each and scored a vital 49 in the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup final against Australia. Malik scored 180 runs at an average of 45 in those games.

Ricky Ponting is the only other player to have won as many finals of tournaments with five or more teams. After losing his first - in the 1996 World Cup- Ponting was part of victorious World Cup campaigns in 1999, 2003 and 2007, as well as the Champions Trophy in 2006 and 2009.

South Africa have played 15 tournaments with five or more teams since their readmission to international cricket in 1992. They've made the semi-finals of such competitions nine times but only once have they made it past that - when they beat West Indies to win the inaugural ICC Knock-Out (now Champions Trophy) in Dhaka in 1998. Since then they've tied one and lost five semi-finals in major ICC tournaments. Herschelle Gibbs and Shaun Pollock have been involved in five of those semis while Graeme Smith played four.

The World Cups began during the era of West Indian dominance and they won every match during their triumphant campaigns in 1975 and 1979. They were favourites to win in 1983 too but were upset by India. Few would have guessed they'd have to wait as long as 25 years for their next major title - the 2004 Champions Trophy in England. They made the finals of four other multti-team tournaments but lost all of them, most recently the 2006 Champions Trophy final against Australia in Mumbai.

If there's a particular List you would like to see, email us with your comments and suggestions.