After looking back on 1975 yesterday, below are more World Cup nail-biters in this series.
England beats New Zealand by nine runs in Manchester in 1979
It was touch and go but England won narrowly to enter the final. England were engaged in two thrillers within four days and won both times. After beating Pakistan by 14 runs at Leeds, they met a confident New Zealand in the semi-final at Manchester.
Sent in to bat, England made 8 for 221 in 60 overs. Skipper and opener Mike Brearley scored a steady 53, Graham Gooch a confident 71 and Derek Randall an unbeaten 42. But legendary New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee tied down his opponents.
A six from Gooch remains memorable in my mind. It soared high and went through the sightscreen, leaving a hole on the ground which remained unrepaired for many years!
New Zealand was given a good start by skipper John Wright (69) and Bruce Edgar (17) but the pace bowling of Michael Hendrick and electrifying fielding by Randall restricted their run chase.
It went down to the wire as the Black Caps needed 43 runs from the last five overs. There was drama when Warren Lees hit Hendrick hard and high to long on. Geoff Boycott got under the ball and caught it. However, his feet touched the boundary rope and it was signaled as a six.
In the final over, 14 runs were needed but England’s master all-rounder Ian Botham conceded only four runs and England won by nine runs to enter their first World Cup final, which they lost to the mighty West Indies by 92 runs at Lord’s.
Gooch’s aggressive innings earned him his second man of the match award within a fortnight.
Australia beats India by one run in Chennai, 1987
The 1987 tournament was played outside the UK for the first time and was comprised of 50-over matches.
Australian cricket was in the doldrums during the mid-1980s after the simultaneous retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh and the loss of key players due to rebel tours to apartheid-era South Africa.
No one expected Australia to enter the semi-final, let alone lift the trophy.
Allan Border lifts Australia’s first World Cup in India in 1987. (AP Photo/Sondeep Shankar)
This changed after their first match against India in Chennai. Australia scored 6 for 268 after Geoff Marsh (110 off 141 balls, hitting one six and seven fours) and David Boon (49) put on 110 runs for the opening wicket.
The alert Australian manager Alan Crompton had noticed that a hit from Dean Jones signaled as a four was actually a six. At lunch, Crompton, the umpires and captains Allan Border and Kapil Dev watched the video and two runs were added to the total. The win target now became 271.
India started their reply confidently and were 2 for 207 with sparkling batting from Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth and Navjot Sidhu.
Gavaskar’s stroke play delighted columnist Henry Blofeld, who described Sunil’s back foot drive off Craig McDermott as “the stroke of the year”. When Gavaskar hit off-spinner Peter Taylor for a four and a six, the huge crowd of nearly 40,000 went ecstatic.
But in a devastating second spell, McDermott took four wickets. In the last over India needed six runs for a win with the last man Maninder Singh on strike.
‘Ice-man’ Steve Waugh conceded two runs from his first two deliveries but sent the bearded Maninder’s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground off the fifth ball and Australia won by one run. This stunned the capacity crowd into silence but the Australians players were in raptures, celebrating as if they had won the World Cup.
For his century, Marsh was adjudged man of the match but many said tongue-in-cheek that his manager Crompton was the real hero.
This thriller was played a little over one year after the famous tied Test – same opponents, same venue and almost the same result.
More World Cup cliff-hangers will be featured in part three.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Expert
Thank you all for your interesting additions. Keep them coming for my series on World Cup thrillers.
sheek
Roar Guru
Just for interest, here's the shape of Australian cricket from 1985 tour of England to 1987 world cup, both official test team & rebel team. Composite official test team 1985-87 (23 tests max) Geoff Marsh (14) David Boon (16) Greg Ritchie (21) Allan Border (23) c. Wayne Phillips (15) wk. Steve Waugh (13) Geoff Matthews (17) Ray Bright (9) Geoff Lawson (9) Craig McDermott (15) Bruce Reid (13) Tim Zoehrer (10) 12th man & wk. World Cup final winning team 1987 (8 matches max) Geoff Marsh (8) David Boon (8) Dean Jones (8) Allan Border (8) c. Mike Veletta (4) Steve Waugh (8) Simon O'Donnell (7) Greg Dyer (8) wk. Craig McDermott (8) Tim May (6) Bruce Reid (8) Tom Moody (3) 12th man Composite Rebel Australians 1985-87 (7 tests max) John Dyson (7) Steve Smith (5) Kepler Wessels (4) Kim Hughes (7) c. Mike Haysman (6) Mick Taylor (5) Trevor Hohns (4) Steve Rixon (7) wk. Rodney Hogg (5) Rod McCurdy (5) Carl Rackemann (5) Greg Shipperd (4) 12th man & dwk.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Just shows what good shape Australian cricket were in. The rebel team that toured South Africa were quite a strong side with a number of excellent cricketers in it. To be able to still lift a WC trophy despite losing so much quality was amazing.
satz
Roar Rookie
Yeah i was there at Chepauk as a kid and was around the centre part where you could see the pitch from the side. Could not believe that for the second year in a row, a settled batsman gave strike to Maninder and Maninder could not gather the extra run. I was at the tied test the previous year and the last 3 hours of that test will be a lasting memory. One rarely experiences such thrills. At the time i had not yet started my cricket coaching stint. Then i was drilled in the basics during the summer and i was watching this specific match four months later. Now it made for way more pleasurable viewing. I knew why the batsmen went forward or back. And quite a few other stuff. The things i remember about this match the openers started with a flurry of boundaries in the opening 10 overs. Then Boon got out LBW after a century partnership. Shastri and Boon had a heated exchange about the decision. There was a steady singles game in the middle overs. There were two or three drops which advertised our clumsy fielding for the time, Only Azhar and Kapil were really good and fit fielders along with Gavaskar in the slips. Jones tried to break free with a six and it nearly hit a baby child in the pavilion.That proved to be the extra 2 runs that was added during lunch break. Then Jones fell. Roger Binny the hero of the previous world cup bowled terribly in his last match. In the 1983 world cup, India and Australia clashed for a place in the semis and Binny's spell sent Australia crashing out. This time his spell proved crucial to an Australian victory. but he did his regular job- dismissing Border. Border always had issues against this hard core medium pace swing bowler! Marsh scored century and then got out to a pull off Prabakhar. ODonnell and waugh managed to grab mostly 2's and singles in the slog overs. The Indian openers got to a steady start. Reid bowled economically and tight throughout the match. but he was always a target of jokes. A gang of guys were running around with a skeleton flag labelled Bruce Reid sparking laughter. Gavaskar was unsually aggressive in the tournament. wonder what took him so long to break away from a test mindset. He blasted Taylor for a couple of sixes and got out being too greedy. In came the indian star for the match, Navjot Sidhu making a comeback after 4 years in the wilderness. In his initial stint for the indian team in 1983, he was called a strokeless wonder. Being from North indian state of Punjab, he was hardly known in the extreme southern parts. The beginning was not auspicious, The crowd were getting annoyed with him muttering "who the hell is this idiot" But he sent the crowd into a delirium moments later ,sending a flurry of sixes once set. It was mayhem for half an hour and we were sensing victory. 270 was a huge target in those days and Sidhu's fiery assault(for the time) almost made mincemeat of the target, Then came another surprise. Mcdermott came back for a last spell. He was carted around in the 1986 tour in both tests and ODI and i hardly recall him a threat despite his pace. He was hammered in the match as well so far. I was expecting more easy runs. Then came a flurry of wickets. Azhar was bowled neck and crop trying to drive. Shastri's dismissal was the most strange. He drove the ball right into Mcdermott's hands. For around 5 to 7 seconds , the crowd didn't seem to know what had happened. Then finally Mcdermott threw the ball in the air indicating it was a c and b dismissal. Kapil fell cheaply much to the disappointment of the crowd. He could get dangerous once he crosses 15. but often the first 15 runs regularly prompted a rash shot. Prabakhar was run out pathetically as usual. The number of times he has let us down in the final 10 overs i can't count. His batting abilities are considerable.but he could not slog and he wasn't fast. but that was no excuse for the uninspiring displays he put up in these crucial overs time and again. I was so happy when he was finally banned. well deserved in part. The final over proved a deflation for the second year in a row. Maninder being the victim again, Unlike the previous year when there was only one or two angry voices, this time "Maninder down down cries were shrill". With age ,i realized the decisions of the settled batsmen were of dubious judgement. It was a great match to watch. It was the first ODI ever in Chennai/Madras. Though it was a regular test centre. wonder why it took so long. is track record
Kersi Meher-Homji
Expert
Paul, Alan Crompton (not Compton) has written a book with Ronald Cardwell titled "The tied Test in Madras -- Controversy, Courage and Crommo" which will be released later this month.
Paul
Roar Guru
Compton's decision to chase those extra couple of runs was pivotal in Australia winning the World Cup. Borders team were given no hope pre-tournament and the fact they could beat a very strong Indian side in India, gave the team enormous confidence. In football parlance, they call Compton's action a 1 per center. It's quite incredible how important getting these small things right, turns out to be.
Warnie's Love Child
Guest
Unbelievable ! Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott playing One Day Cricket. I wonder what their Strike Rates were.