Waqar and Yousuf's World Cup wash-outs

There have been players with average one-day records who've won World Cups and then there have been those with buckets of runs and wickets who've never played even in a World Cup semi-final, let alone win the trophy. This week's List looks at leading run-scorers and wicket-takers to never have made it to the final four in a World Cup.

Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf heads the list of highest run-scorers with no semi-final appearances with 7908 runs. A year after his one-day debut against Zimbabwe in March 1998, Yousuf was part of the strong Pakistan side that qualified for the World Cup final at Lord's. However after an aggressive 29 against Australia during the league phase, Yousuf picked up a hamstring injury that forced him to miss six of Pakistan's next seven games, including the semis and the final. Since then Pakistan haven't had a whiff of a semi-final.

Carl Hooper played 227 ODIs over 16 years but he was never part of a West Indies team that made it past the group stage in a World Cup. He wasn't part of the team in 1996, when West Indies lost to Australia in the semi-final at Mohali and abruptly announced his retirement a month before the 1999 World Cup was about to begin. He came out of retirement in 2001 and was appointed captain for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. He had a dismal tournament, scoring only 99 runs, as West Indies were eliminated during the first round.

You'd expect a few English batsmen to appear in the table above given that they haven't played a semi-final since 1992. However, only Marcus Trescothick, who made his debut in 2000, appears in the top ten with 4335 runs. It is an indication that very few English batsmen have had an impact in one-day cricket over the last 15 years.

Waqar Younis, the third highest wicket-taker in one-dayers and veteran of 262 matches, also never played a semi-final. A back injury kept him out of the 1992 World Cup, which Pakistan went on to win. He was among the top wicket-takers in 1996 but Pakistan crashed out in the quarter-finals. Waqar was chosen only for one game, against Bangladesh, in the 1999 edition with Shoaib Akhtar being the preferred choice for the other games.

Given that Australia have been finalists in the last three World Cups, it's pretty surprising that Jason Gillespie hasn't played a semi-final or a final. In fact, Gillespie has played only four World Cup matches during his 97-match career. He was injured for the 1999 tournament and then had to be replaced in the 2003 squad because he strained a tendon in his right foot after playing just four games.

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