World Cup: A flashback

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World Cup: A flashback

The World Cup has always enamoured the cricket-loving world, and whenever it is around a strange fever grips everybody. And there is no better time than this to peep back in time and recollect past glories.

CJ: Kaushik Bhattacharya

Sat, Mar 10, 2007 00:00:00 IST

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THE WORLD CUP is the biggest spectacle in cricket. Purists may talk of how test cricket is the real thing and how a surfeit of one-dayers is spoiling the game, but when the World Cup is around, even they postpone their lives and sit back to watch. All the top sides of the world gather on one stage and face each other until, in the end, one is left standing. The battles fought and the strategies adopted enter the stuff of legend, and for four years, the team that holds the World Cup does not have to dig too deep for pride or motivation.

1975 England: Under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd, West Indies won the inaugural World Cup at Lords by a very narrow margin of 17 runs. Then both the finalists played the match with red balls, with a stipulated 60 long overs. Lloyd made a century, which helped his team become the first World Cup winners.

Scores: West Indies 291 off 60 overs (Clive Lloyd 102) beat Australia 274 off 58.4 overs (Ian Chappell 62).

1979 England: Two years on, Kerry Packer’s breakaway World Series circuit had turned West Indies into a ruthlessly efficient outfit, which was to dominate world cricket for the next 15 years. Peace was declared with the establishment well in time for West Indies to field their strongest team in the second World Cup final against England again at Lords. West Indies won the match by 92 runs.

Scores: West Indies 286 (Vivian Richards 138 not out, Collin King 86) beat England 194 (M Brearley 64; Joel Garner 5-38).

1983 England: West Indies swaggered into Lord’s, seeking a hat-trick. They slipped away in stunned disbelief as the joyous Indian supporters burst into merry celebrations after India romped home to an unbelievable victory. A puny victory target of 184 seemed a mere formality, as Richards laid bat to ball with contemptuous certainty, striking seven fours in his 33. But after striking Madan Lal for three fours, he top-edged an attempted six to allow Indian captain Kapil Dev to run back and claim quite a high catch over his head. Lloyd pulled a muscle attempting his first run and the game subsequently disintegrated for the West Indies. And so India went down in the cricket annals as the team that snatched the World Cup from the West Indies side.

Scores: India 183 off 54.4 overs (K Srikant 38) beat West Indies 140 off 52 overs (Vivian Richards 33)

1987 India & Pakistan: One misjudgment by England captain Mike Gatting was enough to swing the Calcutta final in favour of Australia in the first World Cup tournament staged outside England. England was well set at 135 for two, chasing 254 to win at Eden Gardens, when Australia captain Allan Border put himself on to bowl. Gatting attempted a reverse sweep off the first ball, but succeeded only in skying a catch to wicketkeeper Greg Dyer. The result was a breakthrough for Border and his team, that had been in the doldrums through the mid-1980s after the great side led by Ian and then Greg Chappell broke up. Now a new generation, headed by the iceman Steve Waugh, who took two wickets at the death, was to take Australia to new heights during the next decade.

Scores: Australia 253-5 off 50 overs (David Boon 75) beat England 246-8 off 50 overs (W Athey 58).

1992 Australia & New Zealand: Captain Imran Khan famously urged Pakistan to fight like cornered tigers, after they appeared down and out in the fifth World Cup. They responded by surging ahead to the final against England, where the great all-rounder produced his final match-winning performance for his country. Pakistan won the match by 22 runs.

Scores: Pakistan 249-6 off 50 overs (Imran Khan 72, Javed Miandad 58) beat England 227 off 49.2 overs (N Fairbrother 62)

1996 India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka: Asia had proved the natural home for one-day cricket and appropriately it was Sri Lanka, which took an increasingly sophisticated game into a new dimension. Under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka won the final by seven wickets.

Scores: Australia 241-7 off 50 overs (M Taylor 74) lost to Sri Lanka 245-3 off 46.2 overs (A Gurusinha, A de Silva 107 not out).

1999 England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales: Once again England got the chance to conduct the World Cup. And once again England failed to grab this opportunity. It even failed to make it to the final, and Australia won by eight wickets against Pakistan. Steve Waugh at his steeliest rescued Australia, when they faced elimination in their final Super Six match against South Africa. The two teams then met in the semi-finals where a tie put Australia in the final against Pakistan. By now Australia was unstoppable and it ran through a volatile Pakistan side, with Shane Warne taking four wickets in a miserably inadequate 132 all out.

Scores: Pakistan 132 off 39 overs ( S Warne 4-33); Australia 133-3 off 20.1 overs (A Gilchrist 55).

2003 South Africa, Zimbabwe & Kenya: Even without Warne, who failed a drug test for a slimming tablet shortly before the tournament, Australia scaled new heights when they went through the tournament unbeaten in 10 matches. In the final against India, captain Ricky Ponting struck an unbeaten 140 with eight sixes, to propel Australia to a daunting 359 for two. India’s remote victory chances disappeared when Glenn McGrath caught and bowled Sachin Tendulkar for four. Virender Sehwag’s valiant 82 only delayed the inevitable.

Scores: Australia 359-2 (A Gilchrist 57, R Ponting 140 not out, D Martyn 88 not out); India 234 off 39.2 overs (V Sehwag).

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