McGrath becomes World Cup's leading wicket-taker

ST JOHN'S (Antigua): Australian speedster Glenn McGrath added another feather to his decorated cap when he became the highest wicket-taker in World Cup cricket on Saturday.

The 37-year-old right-arm pacer took the record with the wicket of Aftab Ahmed in the Super Eights game against Bangladesh at Sir Vivian Richards stadium.

The scalp was McGrath's 56th in 33 World Cup matches, surpassing Wasim Akram's tally of 55 from 38 games.

The 'Pigeon' added to his kitty when he had Mohammad Ashraful caught by skipper Ricky Ponting.

Earlier, he had scalped Shahriar Nafees to equal Akram.

McGrath's scalps in one-day cricket now stand at 367 from 244 matches. He has already announced his retirement from Test cricket, in which he has 563 wickets from 124 games.

McGrath also leads the 2007 edition's bowlers' list with 12 wickets followed by teammate Brad Hogg and Sri Lanka's Lasit Malinga who have 11 each.

Leading wicket-takers at cricket World Cup (read under player's name, country, wickets, matches and average)

Glenn McGrath         Aus  57  33  19.14
Wasim Akram           Pak  55  38  23.83
Javagal Srinath       Ind  44  34  27.81
Chaminda Vaas          SL  41  25  20.63
Muttiah Muralitharan   SL  39  25  20.79
Allan Donald           SA  38  25  24.02
Imran Khan            Pak  34  28  19.26
Shane Warne           Aus  32  17  19.50
Chris Harris           NZ  32  28  26.90.