A total of 21 centuries were scored in the 2003 World Cup, a huge number, considering that in all previous editions, the highest number was 16, in the 1996 World Cup. The lowest number was recorded in the 1979 World Cup, where only two centuries were scored.

Sourav Ganguly topped the century list as he scored three. Interestingly, all came against the weak bowling attack of the non-Test playing nations.

In all, eight centuries were scored against non-Test playing nations, while in return the non-Test playing nations scored three centuries, out of which two were scored against each other (The Netherlands vs Holland match).

The captains too enjoyed with the bat, as they pounded seven centuries, and all turned out to be match-winning ones. The special one being the unbeaten 140 scored by Ricky Ponting in the final against India, an innings that might be counted among the best ODI innings of all-time.

The subcontinent teams also displayed their prowess with the bat as they plundered eight centuries. And the chief ones being Sourav Ganguly and Marvan Atapattu, who had five centuries amongst them.

Centuries in all World Cups

World Cup	Centuries
1975	6
1979	2
1983	8
1987	11
1992	8
1996	16
1999	11
2003	21
TOTAL	83

Details of centuries in all World Cups

WC	Batsman	Score	For	vs	venue
1975	DL Amiss	137	England	India	Lord's
1975	GM Turner	171*	New Zealand	East Africa	Birmingham
1975	KWR Fletcher	131	England	New Zealand	Nottingham
1975	A Turner	101	Australia	Sri Lanka	The Oval
1975	GM Turner	114*	New Zealand	India	Manchester
1975	CH Lloyd	102	West Indies	Australia	Lord's
1979	CG Greenidge	106*	West Indies	India	Birmingham
1979	IVA Richards	138*	West Indies	England	Lord's
1983	AJ Lamb	102	England	New Zealand	The Oval
1983	DI Gower	130	England	Sri Lanka	Taunton
1983	CG Greenidge	105*	West Indies	Zimbabwe	Worcester
1983	TM Chappell	110	Australia	India	Nottingham
1983	IVA Richards	119	West Indies	India	The Oval
1983	Imran Khan	102*	Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Leeds
1983	N Kapil Dev	175*	India	Zimbabwe	Tunbridge Wells
1983	Zaheer Abbas	103*	Pakistan	New Zealand	Nottingham
1987	Javed Miandad	103	Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Hyderabad (Pak)
1987	GR Marsh	110	Australia	India	Chennai
1987	DL Houghton	142	Zimbabwe	New Zealand	Hyderabad (Ind)
1987	IVA Richards	181	West Indies	Sri Lanka	Karachi
1987	DL Haynes	105	West Indies	Sri Lanka	Karachi
1987	Rameez Raja	113	Pakistan	England	Karachi
1987	Saleem Malik	100	Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Faisalabad
1987	GR Marsh	126*	Australia	New Zealand	Chandigarh
1987	RB Richardson	110	West Indies	Pakistan	Karachi
1987	SM Gavaskar	103*	India	New Zealand	Nagpur
1987	GA Gooch	115	England	India	Mumbai
1992	MD Crowe	100*	New Zealand	Australia	Auckland
1992	DC Boon	100	Australia	New Zealand	Auckland
1992	Rameez Raja	102*	Pakistan	West Indies	Melbourne
1992	A Flower	115*	Zimbabwe	Sri Lanka	New Plymouth
1992	Aamir Sohail	114	Pakistan	Zimbabwe	Hobart
1992	PV Simmons	110	West Indies	Sri Lanka	Berri
1992	DC Boon	100	Australia	West Indies	Melbourne
1992	Rameez Raja	119*	Pakistan	New Zealand	Christchurch
1996	NJ Astle	101	New Zealand	England	Ahmedabad
1996	G Kirsten	188*	South Africa	UAE	Rawalpindi
1996	SR Tendulkar	127*	India	Kenya	Cuttack
1996	GA Hick	104*	England	Netherlands	Peshawar
1996	ME Waugh	130	Australia	Kenya	Visakhapatnam
1996	ME Waugh	126	Australia	India	Mumbai
1996	Aamir Sohail	111	Pakistan	South Africa	Karachi
1996	SR Tendulkar	137	India	Sri Lanka	Delhi
1996	RT Ponting	102	Australia	West Indies	Jaipur
1996	AC Hudson	161	South Africa	Netherlands	Rawalpindi
1996	PA de Silva	145	Sri Lanka	Kenya	Kandy
1996	VG Kambli	106	India	Zimbabwe	Kanpur
1996	ME Waugh	110	Australia	New Zealand	Chennai
1996	BC Lara	111	West Indies	South Africa	Karachi
1996	CZ Harris	130	New Zealand	Australia	Chennai
1996	PA de Silva	107*	Sri Lanka	Australia	Lahore
1999	SR Tendulkar	140*	India	Kenya	Bristol
1999	R Dravid	104*	India	Kenya	Bristol
1999	SC Ganguly	183	India	Sri Lanka	Taunton
1999	R Dravid	145	India	Sri Lanka	Taunton
1999	A Jadeja	100*	India	Australia	The Oval
1999	ME Waugh	104	Australia	Zimbabwe	Lord's
1999	NC Johnson	132*	Zimbabwe	Australia	Lord's
1999	Saeed Anwar	103	Pakistan	Zimbabwe	The Oval
1999	SR Waugh	120*	Australia	South Africa	Leeds
1999	HH Gibbs	101	South Africa	Australia	Leeds
1999	Saeed Anwar	113*	Pakistan	New Zealand	Manchester
2003	BC Lara	116	West Indies	South Africa	Cape Town
2003	ST Jayasuriya	120	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Bloemfontein
2003	CB Wishart	172*	Zimbabwe	Namibia	Harare
2003	SB Styris	141	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Bloemfontein
2003	A Symonds	143*	Australia	Pakistan	Johannesburg
2003	SP Fleming	134*	New Zealand	South Africa	Johannesburg
2003	HH Gibbs	143	South Africa	New Zealand	Johannesburg
2003	SR Tendulkar	152	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	SC Ganguly	112*	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	JM Davison	111	Canada	West Indies	Centurion
2003	Saeed Anwar	101	Pakistan	India	Centurion
2003	MS Atapattu	124	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Durban
2003	KJJ van Noortwijk	134*	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein
2003	JF Kloppenburg	121	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein
2003	CH Gayle	119	West Indies	Kenya	Kimberley
2003	SC Ganguly	107*	India	Kenya	Cape Town
2003	RT Ponting	114	Australia	Sri Lanka	Centurion
2003	NJ Astle	102*	New Zealand	Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein
2003	MS Atapattu	103*	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	East London
2003	SC Ganguly	111*	India	Kenya	Durban
2003	RT Ponting	140*	Australia	India	Johannesburg

Centuries scored by captains in WC 2003

WC	Batsman	Score	For	vs	venue
2003	ST Jayasuriya	120	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Bloemfontein
2003	SP Fleming	134*	New Zealand	South Africa	Johannesburg
2003	SC Ganguly	112*	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	SC Ganguly	107*	India	Kenya	Cape Town
2003	RT Ponting	114	Australia	Sri Lanka	Centurion
2003	SC Ganguly	111*	India	Kenya	Durban
2003	RT Ponting	140*	Australia	India	Johannesburg

Centuries by non-Test playing nations in WC 2003

WC	Batsman	Score	For	vs	venue
2003	JM Davison	111	Canada	West Indies	Centurion
2003	KJJ van Noortwijk	134*	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein
2003	JF Kloppenburg	121	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein

Centuries against non-Test playing nations in WC 2003

WC	Batsman	Score	For	vs	venue
2003	CB Wishart	172*	Zimbabwe	Namibia	Harare
2003	SR Tendulkar	152	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	SC Ganguly	112*	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	KJJ van Noortwijk	134*	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein
2003	JF Kloppenburg	121	Netherlands	Namibia	Bloemfontein
2003	CH Gayle	119	West Indies	Kenya	Kimberley
2003	SC Ganguly	107*	India	Kenya	Cape Town
2003	SC Ganguly	111*	India	Kenya	Durban

Centuries by subcontinent batsmen in WC 2003

WC	Batsman	Score	For	vs	venue
2003	ST Jayasuriya	120	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Bloemfontein
2003	SR Tendulkar	152	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	SC Ganguly	112*	India	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg
2003	Saeed Anwar	101	Pakistan	India	Centurion
2003	MS Atapattu	124	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Durban
2003	SC Ganguly	107*	India	Kenya	Cape Town
2003	MS Atapattu	103*	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	East London
2003	SC Ganguly	111*	India	Kenya	Durban

Share your comments

What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 10 Sub: NETHERLANDS vs Holland - Ha Ha.........:-) The author really needs to work on his knowledge of countries. Also don't they scrutinize the articles before they are published. Somebody should know Netherlands ... Posted by Sanjeev Rao Sub: big difference Maybe because his average against the TEST playing nation is around 17!!! Posted by saf Sub: Bad reporting The author at one place mentions Netherlands vs. Holland - God knows what he meant. I am also disgusted at this media attach on Ganguly ... Posted by Anand Sub: Saurav I disagree if one say that Ganguly had all his centuries against Nontest playing nations, well a Century is a Century when you are playing ... Posted by Arjun Sub: why so much emphasis on ganguly i don't know why ganguly centuries havebeen so underated, i accept it wasn't a great century like that of ricky ponting, but ganguly centuries have ... Posted by nitin