The blistering 71 run partnership (in 7.1 overs) between Brendon McCullum and James Franklin was New Zealand’s best for the 8th wicket in World Cup. The pair bettered the previous best of 53 (unbeaten) between McCullum and Andre Adams against the West Indies at Port Elizabeth in 2003.

The above stand was also by far the best by any team against Ireland for the 8th wicket. The previous best being unbeaten 37 between Scotland’s Colin Smith and Craig Wright at Nairobi earlier this year in January.

Ireland’s Kevin ’Brien became the first batsman in World Cup history to be run-out while missing a fifty by just one run. For the record, he became the 12th batsman for the 13th time to register a score of 49 in the World Cup. Australia’s Steve Waugh is the only one to do it twice, which includes one unbeaten score.

Daniel Vettori (4/23) became the first Black Cap spinner to claim a four-plus wicket haul in the WC. The previous best figures was 3/20 by off-spinner Shane Thomson against the UAE at Faisalabad in 1996.

Vettori, incidentally, became the 16th spinner to capture four-or-more wickets in a World Cup match for the 22nd time. However, he became the only second left arm spinner to do so in World Cup after India’s Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj had flattering figures of 4/6 against Namibia at Pietermaritzburg in the 2003 edition.

The four lbw decisions in favour of New Zealand bowlers equals the best in a World Cup match. In the 1999 edition at Chelmsford, New Zealand bowlers had managed four lbw decisions in their favour against Bangladesh.

With 13 dismissals (12ct, 1st) in six matches, New Zealand’s McCullum currently leads the ’keepers’ list with most dismissals in this edition of the World Cup, while Ireland’s Eoin Morgan heads the fielders list with seven catches in six matches.