World Cup No. 4
Teams 8
Minnows Zimbabwe
Format As in 1983 but, due to the shorter daylight hours on the subcontinent, games were 50 over's per innings, not 60. There was an attempt to cheer up disappointed crowds by staging a third-place play-off between Pakistan and India, but the star players demanded too much cash.
Innovations The first World Cup to be held away from England was also the first to feature neutral umpires.
Early running India beat Australia to the top of Group A on superior run-rate, despite losing to them by one run in the closest match of the tournament. Zimbabwe didn’t disgrace themselves, but still lost every match and gave New Zealand (without the unavailable Hadlee) their only victory. In Group B Pakistan Cruised through, but England (without the uninterested Gower and Botham) only qualified after a bit of scramble. West Indies failed to reach the semi-finals for the first time, despite their 191-run annihilation of Sri Lanka.
The Semis The hometown script started to go wrong. On a dodgy Bombay pitch, Gooch spent most of his time down on one knee as he and Getting swept up 117 in 19 over's. The resulting 254 was too much even for India’s talented batting line-up. Meanwhile Border’s bous, fired up by Zaheer Abbas calling them a bunch of club cricketers, outplayed glamorous Pakistan at Lahore. Despite a searching spell from Imran (3 for 36) , Australia eventually reached 267 as Steve Waugh hit 18 from the final over. In reply Pakistan were in the mire at 38 for 3. Imran and Miandad hinted at revival but but, after their departure, Pakistan just didn’t have the firepower. Australia did, and McDermott finished with 5 for 54, the best figure of the tournament.
The final We didn’t know it all the time, but this was the start of Australia’s march to world domination. They won the toss and, as most team had done throughout the tournament, chose to bat first. In the days before pinch-hitters, Marsh and Boon’s 52 in the first ten over's constituted a flyer, and the runs kept flowing as Boon top-scored with 75. But with Getting in command, their 253 seemed very gettable, until the captain felt the need to reverse-sweep Border’s first ball; it took the top edge, bounced of his shoulder, and was snapped up by Greg Dyer behind the stumps. England were struggling from then, and through Lamb shepherded the tail well and DeFreitas biffed the ball around, 17 from Craig McDrermott’s final over was practically impossible.
Last Hurrah Gavaskar, having hit his first and only ODI ton against NZ, and averaged 50 in the tournament, made his last International appearance. Fittingly, it was at Bombay, his home ground. Imran announced the first of his many retirements – but went on to win 1992. Viv Richards, playing in his fourth World Cup, bit an apt edieu with a tournament- record 181 against Sri Lanka.
First Hurrah Sidhu and Moody made their ODI debuts in the same match: Sidhu finished the tournament averaging 55, Moody just 5. Phill Simmons made a couple of fifties and a sparkling 89 against Sri Lanka.
