ICC World Cup 2019
Part 26 - Wills Cup 1996
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Second time in cricket history world cup held at Asian Countries. India, Pakistan and Srilanka combined together hosts the 1996 world cup. It was named as "Wills Cup". Yes ITC's Wills Brand is the official sponsor for this tournament. At the end of this tournament Srilanka became the new world champions. Lot of innovative strategy came out in this world cup. Srilanka was in a good form as like the current England team. Sri lanka were the first team introducing a explosive opening partnership who can able to score 100 runs in first 15 overs and the credits goes to Sanath jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana. Lot of controversies came in this world cup and the important one is Australiaa n West Indies refused to go Srilanka for a league match due to local war at Srilanka.
Another moment is there, that we will see under the topic Interesting moments. After a long years Zimbabwe got honour of test playing nations. So officially the 9 test playing nations of ICC directly qualified for 1996 world cup. While three associate nations were added with them like UAE, Kenya and Netherland. Kenya previously played under East Africa, later they moved as separate team.
Participated Countries:
Along with 9 test playing countries 3 associate countries participated in this world cup. They were split into two Groups A and B.
Group A:
Sri lanka, Australia, India, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Kenya
Group B:
England, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, South Africa and UAE
Along with three champions of world cup in Group A Srilanka finished as top with 10 points from 5 win. They completely swiped matches against all the leading teams. While India and Australia confirms second and third spot with 3 wins. By a net runrate difference Australia moves to second. Two time champions West Indies won only 2 matches and finsihes as fourth from that Group. Zimbabwe and Kenya clinches one win in this tournament. Zimbabwe won against Kenya. But Kenya registered their first ever world cup win against the strong West Indies.
Out of 5 win, Sri lanka got two just because of walkover. Australia and West Indies denies to play against Sri lanka at their home because of a bomb blast by Tamil Tigers. A cold war happening at the time between Sri lankan govt with the tamil tigers. At the last match of Group A, Sri lanka registered the highest total in ODI against Kenya. Sri lanka scored 398 runs with the help of Aravinda De Silva's 145 runs. This remains the highest total in world cup's until it was broken by India (413 runs) in 2007 world cup against Bermuda. From Group A India, Australia, Sri lanka and West Indies Qualified for Quarter Finals.
In Group B, South Africa won all the matches and finished at top. While the defending champions Pakistan finished second with a loss against South Africa. New Zealand and England finished as third and fourth with 6 and 4 points respectively. Associate countries UAE and Netherland went bottom as expected. But the question is who will win the match between them? In that match UAE won and registered their first ever world cup win. Pakistan, England, New Zealand and South Africa qualified for quarter finals from Group B.
Quarter Finals:
In Quarter finals Srilanka won the match against England and send them back to their home in 40 overs itself. Its just because of Sanath Jayasuriya he scored a lightning 82 runs from just 44 balls which is similar to current generation T20 style. In second match India beat Pakistan by 39 runs with the help Navjot Singh Sidhu's 93runs at Bangalore. The match went red hot both the team top and middle orders performed well. But in bowling Venaktesh Prasad and Kumble combo did a better job than Pak bowlers which makes the win possible. This is the last match played by Paksitan batting maestro Javid Miandad. Till 1996 he made his presence in five world cups. Later it was surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar. Till now Litte Master top the list with six world cup appearance from 1992 to 2011
In third quarter finals, once again strong south africa played with big hope to enter semi but lost. This time is also due to rain but not because of natural rain, its just because of Brian Lara's boundary rains. Brian Lara played his lifetime world cup innings in this match. He scored a tremendous century with 111 runs. In that he scored 16 boundaries, thats why we mentioned South Africa lost because of boundary rains. In that last quarter finals, Australia beat their sibling New zealand and enter semi finals. New Zealand set a target of 287 runs with the help of Chris Harris 130 runs at no 5. But Australia chased the target in 48th over with the help of Waugh brothers. Mark waugh socred century in this match.
Semi Finals:
Now its upto last four teams to fight for world cup. Out of four, 3 teams already won world cup except Sri lanka. In first semi Sri lanka won by default which means referee announcing the match won by a team due to unplayable situtaion. We will see briefly about this later.
In second semi finals, West Indies failed to chase a small target of 208 runs. They went all out for 202 runs. With 5 runs victory Australia went to play their third finals.
Finals:
Its a match between a legend and a developing team. Australia batted first and scored 241 runs with the help of their skipper Mark Taylor's 74 runs. Sri lanka chased that target in 47th over itself. Even their openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharan lost for less than 10 runs. The combo were the most successful openers in 1996 world cup. But Aravinda De Silva scored a memorable century at finals with the support of Gurusinha and skipper Ranatunga takes Srilanka to win their maiden title.
Most Runs: Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) with 523 runs
Mark Waugh (Aus) with 484 runs
Most Wickets: Anil Kumble (Ind) with 15 wickets
Waqar Younis (Pak)with 13 wickets
Interesting Moments:
1. Gary Kirsten's 188
South Africa's left hander Gary Kirsten scored highest individual score in world cup's. It remains the highest until it was broken by Chris Gayle and Martin Guptil with their double century in 2015 world cup. Now Guptil is the top individual scorer in world cup with 232 runs.
2. Most Centuries by a batsman
Australia's Mark Waugh scored three centuries in this tournament which is the maximum number of centuries by an individual in world cups. He scored against Kenya, India and New Zealand. Later the record was equaled by India's Sourav Ganguly in 2003 world cup. But the record was broken by Srilanka's Kumar Sangakkara in 2015 with 4 centuries.
3. Match won by default
Here is the most important moment of 1996 world cup. It was a semi final match were both the hosts India and Srilanka playing at Eden garden, Calcutta. Sri lanka set a target of 252 runs for India. Everyone thought India can make it easily. Because Sachin Tendulkar was in peak form. He is also the highest scorer in that world cup. As expected Sachin scored a brilliant 65 runs. Once India were 98 for 1 wicket loss. After that Sachin got out then the part time bowler Jayasuriya collapsed Indian order and they lost 7 wickets for the next 22 runs. This made the fans angry, fans behaved in a worst manner and threw water bottles over the Srilankan fielders inside the ground. It stopped the play. Finally match referee announced that the match as won by Srilanka. This incident became a black mark in the history of cricket.
Match referee can able to give win to a team if he cant able to continue the match.
Do you know who is that match referee???????????
Clive Llyod, former WestIndies captain who won two world cups for his country.
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