Top 5 England vs. Australia One-Day Internationals

#3 Gatting loses the World Cup, 1987

The World Cup finals have always been closely contested affairs, but, the only exception is the final of the 1987 edition, when England and Australia battled for the biggest trophy in cricket at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Australia elected to bat first and were given a steady start by the openers David Boon and Geoff Marsh.

They added 75 for the first wicket. Boon top scored with 75 off 125 balls but a run a ball 31 from captain Allan Border and some superb late hitting from Mike Veletta (45 off 31, 6 boundaries) took Australia to 253 for 5 in their 50 overs. It was a big score in those days.

England's response got off to the worst possible start when opener Tim Robinson went for nought in the first over but then Graham Gooch and Bill Athey started the recovery.

They added 65 for the second wicket and then Athey shared a superb stand with Mike Gatting, who looked in excellent touch. Gatting was batting beautifully and had already hit 3 fours and a six.

Australia were running out of ideas and the match was slipping from their grip when captain Allan Border brought himself on. His slow left-arm spin did the trick as Gatting went for a reverse sweep and gifted a simple catch to the wicket-keeper.

From then on, it was a struggle for England and although Allan Lamb (45 off 44, 4 boundaries) tried gamely to make a fist of it, they eventually ran out of steam. Australia won a pulsating game by 7 runs.