As the ICC World Cup cricket 2015 is about to tee off, several sons of former World Cup stars — Stuart Broad, Tom Latham, and Mitchell Marsh — have been included in various squads. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at father-son pairs to have played World Cup cricket.
Family affairs are a common matter in cricket, even at the highest level. There have been many instances of father and son both playing Tests as well as two examples of three generations (the Khans and the Headleys) playing Test cricket. Despite its late inception, One-Day Internationals (ODIs) have had their fair share of fathers and sons as well. Surprisingly, not a lot of these pairs have played in the World Cup.
When Derek Pringle took field against West Indies at Gujranwala in World Cup 1987, he created a record by being the first World Cupper’s son to play the tournament. His father Don had played two matches in World Cup 1975 for East Africa (and passed away less than four months after his last outing). Derek was born in Kenya.
The next edition of the World Cup saw Chris, son of Lance Cairns, take field. Lance Cairns had played international cricket till December 1985, while Chris made his international debut in November 1989; the gap of less than four years is the least for any father-son combination.
Chris Broad had made his World Cup debut alongside Chris Broad. Chris’ son Stuart followed his father’s footsteps in 2007 when he played his first World Cup match against West Indies at Kensington Oval (it was also Brian Lara’s last international match). Stuart was a regular in 2011 and has been included in the 2015 squad.
Geoff Marsh was the first cricketer to win the World Cup as both player (in 1987) and coach (in 1999). Rod Latham had been a crucial cog in Martin Crowe’s famous dibbly-dobbly-wibbly-wobbly scheme in World Cup 1992. Their sons, Mitchell Marsh and Tom Latham, are all set to make their World Cup debuts in 2015.
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