Five greatest cricket World Cup finals in history

2. 1992 World Cup final (Melbourne Cricket Ground)

Desperate to bag a major cricket title, England scampered through the qualifying stages and eked out a controversial win over South Africa via a strange method of calculating the target scores in the second semi-final.

Pakistan, who had a far more rough entry into the final, demolished New Zealand in the first semi-final, courtesy Inzamam ul-Haq’s spectacular innings. Their morale had been at an all-time low two weeks prior, but they managed to dig themselves out of the hole and survived to face the British in the summit clash.

Imran Khan won the toss and decided to bat first. Seamer Derek Pringle removed both Aamer Sohail and Rameez Raja to leave the Men in Green tottering at 24/2. With fellow 1975 World Cup veteran Javed Miandad for company, Imran added 139 for the third wicket, taking the score to 163 before Miandad was removed by Richard Illingworth for 58. Imran fell later for 72, but big hitting from Inzamam and Wasim Akram piloted Pakistan to a score of 249.

England’s chase was rocked by Akram’s brilliance; he dismissed makeshift opener Ian Botham for a duck. Gooch, Stewart and Hick followed to leave their side reeling at 69/4 before Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb staged a recovery, taking the score to 141.

However, Akram then provided two of the most brilliant moments of the final – he fired one on to Lamb’s pads, which shaped in and moved away from the astonished batsman to uproot the off-stump. Next ball, the left-armer removed Chris Lewis with a widish delivery outside off-stump that nipped back in sharply, once again dislodging the off-stump.

This effectively ended England’s resistance – Fairbrother fell to Aaqib Javed, and despite a valiant attempt by the tail, Pakistan were not to be denied, with Imran dismissing Illingworth courtesy a catch by Rameez Raja.

The legendary Sir Colin Cowdrey handed over the glittering crystal trophy to the Pakistan captain – whose grinning face as he held it aloft became, after Jonty Rhodes’ brilliance in the field, remained etched in the minds of fans for eons to come.