1996 Cricket World Cup

1996 Wills World Cup
Administrator(s)	International Cricket Council
Cricket format	One Day International
Tournament format(s)	Round robin and Knockout
Host(s)	India Pakistan Sri Lanka
Champions	Sri Lanka (1stth title)
Participants	12
Matches played	37
Player of the series	Sanath Jayasuriya
Most runs	SR Tendulkar (523)
Most wickets	Anil Kumble (15)
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The 1996 Cricket World Cup (aka Wills World Cup) was the sixth edition of the tournament and was won by Sri Lanka who beat Australia by 7 wickets at the final in Lahore.

Hosts

The 1996 World Cup was played in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Controversy dogged the tournament before any games were played, however, when Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka following the Central Bank Bombing by the Tamil Tigers in January, citing security concerns. Sri Lanka, in addition to offering maximum security to the teams, questioned the validity of citing security concerns when the International Cricket Council had determined it was safe. After extensive negotiations, the ICC ruled that Sri Lanka would be awarded both games on forfeit. As a result of this decision, Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the quarter-finals before playing a game.

Matches hosted by India

India hosted 13 matchs at 13 different places.

Sl.No. Place - Stadium name - Seating capacity at stadium - Matchs

1. Kolkata, West Bengal - Eden Gardens - 090,000 - Semifinal => 1

2. Mohali, Punjab - Punjab Cricket Association Stadium - 040,000 - Semifinal => 1

3. Banalore, Karnataka - M. Chinnaswamy Stadium - 070,000 - Quarterfinal match => 1

4. Chennai, Tamil Nadu - M. A. Chidambaram Stadium - 120,000 - Quarterfinal match => 1

5. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh - Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium - 030,000 - Opening match => 1

6. Cuttack, Orissa - Barabati Stadium - 025,000 - Leauge match => 1

7. Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh - Roop Singh Stadium - 025,000 - Leauge match => 1

8. Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh - Indira Priyadarshini Stadium - 025,000 - Leauge match => 1

9. Patna, Bihar - Moin-ul-Haq Stadium - 025,000 - Leauge match => 1

10. Pune, Maharashtra - Nehru Stadium - 025,000 - Leauge match => 1

11. Mumbai, Maharashtra - Wankhede Stadium - 045,000 - Leauge match => 1

12. Ahmedabad, Gujrat - Sardar Patel Stadium - 048,000 - Leauge match => 1

13. Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat - Moti Bagh Stadium - 018,000 - Leauge match => 1

Teams

Three teams made their World Cup debuts in 1996: the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Kenya. The Netherlands lost all of their five matches while the U.A.E. only beat the Dutch. Kenya, however, recorded a surprise victory over the West Indies in Pune.

Overview

The Sri Lankans, coached by Dav Whatmore and captained by Arjuna Ranatunga, used Man of the Series Sanath Jayasuriya^[1] and Romesh Kaluwitharana as opening batsmen to take advantage of the fielding restrictions during the first 15 overs of each innings. At a time when 50 or 60 runs in the first 15 overs was considered adequate, Sri Lanka scored 117 runs in those overs against India, 123 against Kenya, 121 against England in the quarter-final and 86 against India in the semi-final. Against Kenya, Sri Lanka made 398 for 5, a new record for the highest team score in a one-day international that stood until April 2006.

Sri Lanka won the first semi-final over India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in front of a crowd unofficially estimated at 110 000. Chasing Sri Lanka's innings of 251 for 8, India had slumped to 120 for 8 in the 35th over when sections of crowd began to throw fruit and plastic bottles onto the field. The players left the field for 20 minutes in an attempt to quieten the crowd. When the players returned for play, more bottles were thrown onto the field and fires were lit in the stand. Match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka, the first default ever in a Test or One Day International.

In the second semi-final in Mohali, Australia recovered from 15 for 4 to reach 207 for 8 from their 50 overs. The West Indians had reached 165 for 2 in the 42nd over before losing their last 8 wickets for 37 runs in 50 balls.

Sri Lanka won the toss in the final and sent Australia in to bat despite the team batting first having won all five previous World Cup finals. Mark Taylor top scored with 74 in Australia's total of 241 for 7. After Australia had put down no fewer than five catches, Sri Lanka won the match in the 47th over with Aravinda de Silva following his 3 for 42 with an unbeaten 107 to win the Player of the Match award. It was the first time a tournament host or co-host had won the cricket World Cup.

Group Stage Results

Group A

• Australia v Zimbabwe at Nagpur - 1 March 1996
  • Zimbabwe 154 (Andrew Waller 67, Shane Warne 4-34) (45.3 ov); Australia 158-2 (Mark Waugh 76*) (36 ov). Australia won by 8 wickets.
• India v Sri Lanka at New Delhi - 2 March 1996
  • India 271-3 (Sachin Tendulkar 137, Mohammad Azharuddin 72*) (50 ov); Sri Lanka 272-4 (Sanath Jayasuriya 79, Hashan Tillakaratne 70*) (48.4 ov). Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets.
• Australia v West Indies at Jaipur - 4 March 1996
  • Australia 229-6 (Ricky Ponting 102, Steve Waugh 57) (50 ov); West Indies 232-6 (Richie Richardson 93*, Brian Lara 60, Mark Waugh 3-38) (48.5 ov). West Indies won by 4 wickets.
• India v Zimbabwe at Kanpur - 6 March 1996
  • India 247-5 (Vinod Kambli 106, Navjot Singh Sidhu 80) (50 ov); Zimbabwe 207 (Venkatapathy Raju 3-30) (49.4 ov). India won by 40 runs.
• Sri Lanka v Kenya at Kandy - 6 March 1996
  • Sri Lanka 398-5 (Aravinda de Silva 145, Asanka Gurusinha 84, Arjuna Ranatunga 75*) (50 ov); Kenya 254-7 (Steve Tikolo 96) (50 ov). Sri Lanka won by 144 runs.

Group B

• England v New Zealand in Ahmedabad - 14 February 1996
  • New Zealand 239-6 (Nathan Astle 101) (50 ov); England 228-9 (Graeme Hick 85, Dion Nash 3-26) (50 ov). New Zealand won by 11 runs.
• South Africa v United Arab Emirates in Rawalpindi - 16 February 1996
  • South Africa 321-2 (Gary Kirsten 188*, Hansie Cronje 57*) (50 ov); U.A.E. 152-8 (Brian McMillan 3-11, Allan Donald 3-21) (50 ov). South Africa won by 169 runs.
• Netherlands v New Zealand at Baroda - 17 February 1996
  • New Zealand 307-8 (Craig Spearman 68, Stephen Fleming 66, Adam Parore 55, Chris Cairns 52, Steven Lubbers 3-48) (50 ov); Netherlands 188-7 (Chris Harris 3-24) (50 ov). New Zealand won by 119 runs.
• England v United Arab Emirates at Peshawar - 18 February 1996
  • U.A.E. 136 (Neil Smith 3-29) (48.3 ov); England 140-2 (35 ov). England won by 8 wickets.
• New Zealand v South Africa at Faisalabad - 20 February 1996
  • New Zealand 177-9 (Allan Donald 3-34) (50 ov); South Africa 178-5 (Hansie Cronje 78) (37.3 ov). South Africa won by 5 wickets.
• England v Netherlands at Peshawar - 22 February 1996
  • England 279-4 (Graeme Hick 104*, Graham Thorpe 89) (50 ov); Netherlands 230-6 (Klaas van Noortwijk 64, Bas Zuiderent 54, Phillip DeFreitas 3-31) (50 ov). England won by 49 runs.
• Pakistan v United Arab Emirates at Gujranwala - 24 February 1996
  • U.A.E. 109-9 (Mushtaq Ahmed 3-16) (33 ov); Pakistan 112-1 (Ijaz Ahmed 50*) (18 ov). Pakistan won by 9 wickets.
• England v South Africa at Rawalpindi - 25 February 1996
  • South Africa 230 (Peter Martin 3-33) (50 ov); England 152 (44.3 ov). South Africa won by 78 runs.
• Pakistan v Netherlands at Lahore - 26 February 1996
  • Netherlands 145-7 (Flavian Aponso 58, Waqar Younis 4-26) (50 ov); Pakistan 151-2 (Saeed Anwar 83*) (30.4 ov). Pakistan won by 8 wickets.
• New Zealand v United Arab Emirates at Faisalabad - 27 February 1996
  • New Zealand 276-8 (Roger Twose 92, Craig Spearman 78, Azhar Saeed 3-45) (47 ov); U.A.E. 167-9 (Shane Thomson 3-20) (47 ov). New Zealand won by 109 runs.
• Pakistan v South Africa at Karachi - 29 February 1996
  • Pakistan 242-6 (Aamir Sohail 111) (50 ov); South Africa 243-5 (Daryll Cullinan 65, Waqar Younis 3-50) (44.2 ov). South Africa won by 5 wickets.
• Netherlands v United Arab Emirates at Lahore - 1 March 1996
  • Netherlands 216-9 (Shaukat Dukanwala 5-29) (50 ov); U.A.E. 220-3 (Saleem Raza 84, Mohammad Ishaq 51*) (44.2 ov). United Arab Emirates won by 7 wickets.
• Pakistan v England at Karachi - 3 March 1996
  • England 249-9 (Robin Smith 75, Mike Atherton 66, Graham Thorpe 52*, Mushtaq Ahmed 3-53) (50 ov); Pakistan 250-3 (Saeed Anwar 71, Ijaz Ahmed 70, Inzamam-ul-haq 53*) (47.4 ov). Pakistan won by 7 wickets.
• Netherlands v South Africa at Rawalpindi - 5 March 1996
  • South Africa 328-3 (Andrew Hudson 161, Gary Kirsten 83) (50 ov); Netherlands 168-8 (50 ov). South Africa won by 160 runs.
• Pakistan v New Zealand at Lahore - 6 March 1996
  • Pakistan 281-5 (Saeed Anwar 62, Saleem Malik 55*, Aamir Sohail 50) (50 ov); New Zealand 235 (47.3 ov). Pakistan won by 46 runs.

Knockout Stage

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field. Mark Taylor (74 from 83 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) and Ricky Ponting (45 from 73 balls, 2 fours) shared a second-wicket partnership of 101 runs. When Ponting and Taylor were dismissed, however, Australia fell from 1/137 to 5/170 as the famed 4-pronged spin attack of Sri Lanka took its toll. Despite the slump, Australia struggled on to 241 (7 wickets, 50 overs)

Statistics

Sachin Tendulkar, the leading run scorer in the tournament.

Anil Kumble, the leading wicket taker in the tournament.

Notes and references

1. ^ "Wills World Cup, 1995/96, Final". Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/WORLD_CUPS/WC96/WC96-MATCHES/AUS_SL_WC96_ODI-FINAL_17MAR1996.html. Retrieved 2007-04-29. 

External links

• Cricket World Cup 1996 Scorecardsin CricketFundas
• Cricket World Cup 1996 from Cricinfo