Australia begin their golden run as the World Cup returns to English turf in 1999 : Excerpt from ‘The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011’ by Indra Vikram Singh

The World Cup returned to England in 1999 after a lapse of 16 years. In keeping with the times, Holland and Ireland too got to host a match each, besides Scotland and Wales. So much had changed in the interim. An Indian businessman, Jagmohan Dalmiya, presided over the ICC after a stint by a great West Indies batsman of yore, Clyde Walcott.

Even the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), one of the last bastions of tradition, had to bow before the winds of modernity by constructing a new media centre at the Nursery End of the Lord's ground. Named Spaceship, it was built at a cost of £5.8 million ($ 9.3 million), and can accomodate 250 journalists and broadcasters. It was unveiled on 27 April 1999, seventeen days before the start of the World Cup.

There was now a permanent ICC World Cup Trophy crafted in silver and gilt in London by Garrard, the Crown jewellers, featuring a golden globe held aloft by three silver columns. Valued at more than £27,000, it is 60 centimetres in height and weighs 11 kilograms. The golden globe is presented in the form of a stylised cricket ball. The silver columns, which are designed as stumps and bails, represent the three pillars of cricket - batting, bowling and fielding. Australia had the honour of winning it.

This time the title sponsorship was not awarded. Instead there were four global partners - Emirates Airlines, NatWest Bank, Pepsi and Vodafone. The tournament was christened ICC World Cup.

A total of £11 million was raised from sponsorship. Income from television grossed £23 million from a global audience of 2.3 billion in 129 countries. There was a record profit of more than £30 million from this World Cup. The English Cricket Board (ECB) kept all the gate receipts and merchandising revenue, while the money received from award of television rights and sponsorship was divided between the participants. The ECB thus raked in £13.7 million, while the other Test playing nations received £1.425 million each, except Bangladesh whose share was £225,000.

The prize money on offer was close to £600,000 ($1 million), with the winners receiving £180,000 and the runners-up taking home £90,000. The losing semi-finalists received £60,000 each. The rest of the prize money, amounting to around £210,000 was shared by the other eight participants.

A Daewoo Musso car, prize for the player-of-the-tournament, was won by the dashing South African allrounder Lance Klusener.

Bangladesh, who won the ICC Trophy 1997, and runners-up Kenya had already gained One-day International status. For the former it was the first appearance in the World Cup, as it was for Scotland who finished third in the tournament for the associate member countries. Group A comprised England, India, Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, while in Group B were Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland and the West Indies.

For the first time there was a super-six stage. This was an improvement on the previous format wherein it was almost a foregone conclusion as to which eight teams would advance to the quarter-finals. This is not meant as disrespect towards Zimbabwe, but even in 1996 they were considered the weakest of the nine Test-playing nations. In the super-six, the three teams that qualified from Group A: South Africa, India and Zimbabwe, played each of the three qualifiers from Group B: Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand.

There were flaws in this system too. The points that teams carried forward from the group matches to the super-six were only those that they earned against the two teams that qualified from their group. Hence, Zimbabwe who finished third in Group A, carried 4 points, top team South Africa took with them 2 points, while second-placed India got none. Zimbabwe, who did not win a single super-six match, nearly made it to the semi-final. Eventual champions Australia, who won all three super-six matches, advanced to the semi-finals only by virtue of their victory in the last match against South Africa. There could easily have been a travesty of justice. 

The Duckworth-Lewis system of re-setting targets, which the average cricket enthusiast does not understand anyway, is another that might create a huge problem some day. In this, target scores can sometimes get enhanced, and a team that scores more can lose, in rain-interrupted matches. One-day cricket in general, and the World Cup in particular, could do with a simpler, more rational system.

About a year later, allegations of match-fixing took some sheen off this highly successful tournament. It cast a shadow over the game for a long time.

Pakistan beat New Zealand to enter the final. 

In the other semi-final there was a thrilling tie between Australia and South Africa, the first in the World Cup. 

Australia made it to the final as they had beaten South Africa in their earlier match. The Australians went on to emulate the West Indies by winning the World Cup for the second time.

The final:

Lord’s, London, 20 June 1999

Australia won by 8 wickets

Pakistan: 132  all out in 39 overs (Shane Warne 4 for 33)

Australia: 133 for 2 wickets in 20.1 overs (Mark Waugh 37 not out, Adam Gilchrist 54)

Man of the Match: Shane Warne

Player of the Tournament: Lance Klusener

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011

ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567

Available in leading bookshops, and online on several websites.

Wills Cricket World Cup 1996 - Rampaging Lankans storm their way to the pinnacle : Excerpt from ‘The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011’ by Indra Vikram Singh

The sub-continent had the honour of staging the tournament once again in 1996. This time three nations - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - played host. Now the top three associate members vied with nine teams from the big league. For the first time teams like ICC Trophy 1994 winners United Arab Emirates, Holland and Kenya made their appearance. Kenya had been represented in 1975 in the East Africa team. Now they were an entity by themselves.

Wills were the sponsors of this edition. The amount paid by them for title sponsorship only was Rupees 552 million ($12.8 million).  It was cricketing heritage to the fore with a 28-inch sterling silver trophy, conceived and designed in 1882 specifically for the game of cricket by the 200-year-old Garrard and Company of London, the Crown jewellers. The trophy has etchings of a painting done in 1785 depicting a cricket match in progress. The painting adorns a wall of the cricket museum at Lord's.

That Sri Lanka, a team listed along with the minnows not long ago, lifted the exquisite trophy in a masterly display at Lahore, was evidence of the fact that the game had touched new frontiers.

The mascot for the tournament was an animated cricket ball named "Googlee", designed by Hindustan Thompson Associates. The sponsors described the mascot as a "reflection of the refreshing resurgence of a fine cricketing art - leg-spin bowling - within which the googly is the perfect symbol for intrigue, unpredictability, and the courage to dare to be different."

By now satellite television had ensured that cricket became a global sport. Unimagined sums were raked in by way of television rights, to vie with gate money in the revenue stakes. It was estimated that two million people watched the matches at the grounds, but two billion saw them on television during the 1996 World Cup, a quarter of these in India alone. No wonder World Tel paid $10.7 million plus 75 percent of the profits, totalling $22 million, for worldwide television rights that they in turn sold to various channels.

Instadia advertising rights were bought by Gokul Finance for Rs.150 million ($4 million). Professional Managment Group (PMG) helped sell these advertisement boards. Sightscreens and other instadia advertisements raked in another $1.5 million. The average gate collections are believed to have been around Rupees 10 million ($267,000) per match.

Marketing of the World Cup soared to amazing peaks. The official suppliers reportedly paid $8 million, with Coca Cola pouring in $3.7 million plus $340,000 for hoardings. Visa, Wimpy's and Indian Overseas Bank paid $350,000 each. Others like Taj Group of Hotels, Indian Airlines, Tradewings, PCL Computers and Fuji Film offered various packages. International Management Group (IMG) shelled out $4 million for hospitality tents that they put up in 17 venues across India.

The prize money totalled £200,000 ($324,000), with the winners receiving £30,000 ($48,600), and the runners-up £20,000 ($32,400). The losing semi-finalists received £10,000 ($16,200) each, while the losing quarter-finalists took home £5,000 ($8,100) each. The award for the man-of-the-tournament was an Audi A4 car, which was won by Sri Lanka's scintillating opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya.

Guarantee money of $405,000 each was paid to Test-playing nations, and $202,500 each to associate members. Even associate members that did not play this tournament received $162,000 each.

The teams were again divided into two groups. Group A comprised Australia, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. In Group B were England, Holland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. For the first time there was a quarter-final stage, and the teams that did not make it were Holland, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe. The semi-finals were contested between Australia and the West Indies, and India and Sri Lanka. Australia advanced to the final along with Sri Lanka, and the rest is history.

The final:

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, 17 March 1996

Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets

Australia: 241 for 7 wickets in 50 overs (Mark Taylor 74, Ricky Ponting 45, Michael Bevan 36 not out, Aravinda de Silva 3 for 42)

Sri Lanka: 245 for 3 wickets in 46.2 overs (Asanka Gurusinha 65, Aravinda de Silva 107 not out, Arjuna Ranatunga 47 not out)

Man of the Match: Aravinda de Silva

Player of the Tournament: Sanath Jayasuriya

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011

ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567

Available in leading bookshops, and online on several websites.

Benson & Hedges Cricket World Cup 1992, the tournament that brought colour to official cricket : Excerpt from ‘The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011’ by Indra Vikram Singh

Post-Packer Australia was fast establishing itself as the modern abode of the game. In addition, if India’s triumph paved the way for staging the next tournament at their shores, Australia could not be denied the same right after their own day of glory at Calcutta in 1987. New Zealand shared the honour of hosting the show. Benson and Hedges sponsored the tournament this time, paying $5 million.

That cricket had finally emerged from its cocoon of conservatism was in stark evidence as the players pranced around at night in colourful outfits under the dazzling lights of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. A sparkling globe of Waterford crystal costing $15,000, and mounted on a base embellished with nine medals displaying the coat of arms of the competing teams, replaced the traditional silver (or gold) cup. It was Pakistan’s turn to claim the coveted prize.

A shrewd marketing blitz was launched, and there was a slew of official sponsors including Tyrell's wine. Kookaburra supplied the white balls and the largest assortment of coloured pads ever to be on show. Put on sale was a special collection of coins priced at over 1.71 million Australian dollars ($1.13 million), in sterling silver and 18-carat gold, with the World Cup engraved on them. These were similar to the nine medals mounted on the base of the trophy. There were 5,000 such sterling silver and 19 gold World Cup coin sets issued for souvenir hunters. The silver sets cost Aus $365 each, while the gold ones were priced at Aus $4510.

The prize money increased to Aus $290,000 ($191,000). The winners received Aus $50,000, the runners-up Aus $25,000, and the losing semi-finalists Aus $12,500 each. This time there was a prize awarded to the man-of-the-tournament, called world champion, worth Aus $5,000 plus a Nissan 300 car. It was won by New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe. The guarantee money paid to the nine teams was Aus $200,000 each.

The South Africans were welcomed back into the fold. With Zimbabwe - who lifted the ICC Trophy yet again in 1990 - too gaining full membership, this was the only occasion when the World Cup was contested by the Test-playing countries only. All the nine teams played each other in a round-robin league. It was in many ways a tournament of upsets. None of the three past champions – West Indies, India and Australia - made it to the semi-finals. Instead it was New Zealand who had a dream run of seven consecutive wins, before they crashed in the last two matches, including the semi-final. South Africa too surprised by quickly finding their feet on their return to international cricket after 21 years. They too made it to the semi-finals.

There was, however, some controversy over the rule for re-calculation of the target in rain-interrupted matches, whereby the highest-scoring overs of the team batting first were taken into consideration. As a result, there were instances when the target scores were not reduced by much, even as the number of balls to be faced were curtailed by a large number. The South Africans were victims of this in their semi-final against England.

The two finalists were England and Pakistan. For England it was the third final. Pakistan made their maiden entry, and they lifted the trophy in this new-look tournament. The traditional game had at last bridged the schism with the modern world.

The final:

MCG, Melbourne, 25 March 1992

Pakistan won by 22 runs

Pakistan: 249 for 6 wickets in 50 overs (Imran Khan 72, Javed Miandad 58, Inzamam-ul-Haq 42, Wasim Akram 33, Derek Pringle 3 for 22)

England: 227 all out in 49.2 overs (Neil Fairbrother 62, Allan Lamb 31, Wasim Akram 3 for 49, Mushtaq Ahmed 3 for 41)

Man of the Match: Wasim Akram

Player of the Tournament (World Champion): Martin Crowe

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011

ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567

Available in leading bookshops, and online on several websites.

Reliance Cricket World Cup 1987 : Excerpt from ‘The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011’ by Indra Vikram Singh

India’s surprise win in 1983 strengthened the claims of the sub-continent to stage the event. The cricketing world thus travelled to a new destination in 1987, with India and Pakistan jointly hosting the event. The sponsorship also changed hands with Reliance Industries underwriting the effort. There was a new trophy too, a gold-plated cup, studded at the top with diamonds, and flags of all the participating nations embossed all round. It was crafted by Arun Industries of Jaipur and cost Rs.600,000 ($42,260).

The sponsorship amount was about Rupees fifty million (£2.17 million), inclusive of title sponsorship, in-stadia advertising and merchandising rights. The prize money increased to £99,300 ($160,000), with the winners receiving £30,000 and the runners-up £12,000. The losing semi-finalists got £6,000 each. The guarantee money this time was £200,000 to Test-playing countries, and £170,000 to Zimbabwe. Amazing, though, it may seem today, Doordarshan paid nothing for television rights. Still, the gross earnings from the tournament were estimated to be $12 million.

With shorter hours of daylight during the northern winter, the number of overs to be bowled per innings was curtailed from 60, which was the norm in the first three World Cups, to 50. Innings of 50 overs came to be accepted universally thereafter in One-day matches. In Group A were Australia, India, New Zealand and Zimbabwe, who had qualified by winning the ICC Trophy for the second successive time in 1986. Group B comprised England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

The sentimental favourites were India and Pakistan, but both were upset in the semi-finals. First Australia defeated Pakistan, and next day England beat India. The final between the Ashes rivals was a keen affair. Australia narrowly beat England to lift the Reliance World Cup and signal their climb towards new peaks in world cricket.

The final:

Eden Gardens, Calcutta, 8 November 1987

Australia won by 7 runs

Australia: 253 for 5 wickets in 50 overs (David Boon 75, Dean Jones 33, Allan Border 31, Mike Veletta 45 not out)

England: 246 for 8 wickets in 50 overs (Graham Gooch 35, Bill Athey 58, Mike Gatting 41, Allan Lamb 45)

Man of the Match: David Boon

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011

ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567

Available in leading bookshops, and online on several websites.

India’s triumph in the Prudential Cricket World Cup 1983 : Excerpt from ‘The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011’ by Indra Vikram Singh

In 1983, it was an enlarged format with each team playing the other twice in the respective groups. By now Sri Lanka had earned full membership of the ICC.  Zimbabwe had emerged as the strongest outfit among the associate members, winning the ICC Trophy in 1982 easily. 

Prudential continued to back the effort, raising the sponsorship figure to £500,000 ($810,000). Prize money went up to £66,200. The winners pocketed £20,000, while the runners-up got £8,000. The losing semi-finalists received £4,000 each. The crowds swelled to 232,081, the collections being £1,195,712. Guarantee money was paid for the first time, each Test-playing country receiving £53,900, and Zimbabwe £30,200. In addition, a surplus of £1 million was distributed among the teams.

In Group A this time were England, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Group B had Australia, India, the West Indies and Zimbabwe. In the semi-finals the West Indies beat Pakistan, while India defeated hosts England. Then, in one of the most stunning upsets in history, India trounced the West Indies to lift the third Prudential World Cup.

The final:

Lord’s, London, 25 June 1983

India won by 43 runs

India: 183 all out in 54.4 overs (Krishnamachari Srikkanth 38, Andy Roberts 3 for 32)

West Indies: 140 all out in 52 overs (Vivian Richards 33, Madan Lal 3 for 31, Mohinder Amarnath 3 for 12)

Man of the Match: Mohinder Amarnath

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011

ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567

Available in leading bookshops, and online on several websites.