World Cup: Players who won the title without playing a single game

2003

Nathan Bracken and Nathan Hauritz

Hauritz and Bracken were very fortunate to make the Australian victorious squad of 2003

Speaking of the luckiest people to win the World Cup, Australian left-arm pacer Nathan Bracken and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz would rank quite high on that list.

Both these players were not a part of the squad that was selected to represent the Kangaroos in the Rainbow Nation but they found themselves on the plane to South Africa amidst unfortunate circumstances for the Aussie team.

While Hauritz joined the team as a replacement for the wizard of spin Shane Warne, after he was sent home courtesy a ban on being tested positive for a drug, Bracken joined the squad mid-tournament as Jason Gillespie was ruled out after four matches due to an injury.

With an otherwise balanced squad that steamrolled most oppositions en-route their swansong title defence, the two Nathans could only watch their team making history from the sidelines. Bracken, though, did get a chance to contribute to a World Cup win in 2007 where he picked up 16 wickets across 10 matches