Cricket World cup finals all time ...

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011 IN INDIA, SRI LANKA & BANGLADESH

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup, and will be hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will take place during the months of February and March 2011, with the first match being played on 19 February 2011.29 matches out of 49 will be played in India including one quarterfinal, a semi-final and the finals, 12 matches in Sri Lanka including one quarterfinal and a semifinal and eight matches in Bangladesh including two quarterfinals.

And this time, India will have the advantage of playing in their backyard.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1975

West Indies beat Australia by 17 runs :

West Indies won the inaugural Word Cup defeating Australia by 17 runs at the historic Lords cricket ground.Batting first, West Indies piled up a mammoth 291 for eight off its allotted 60 overs. Skipper Clive Lloyd led from the front scoring a fine century (102) and was ably supported by Rohan Kanhai who notched a handy 55. Left-arm seamer Gary Gilmour was the pick of the Aussie bowlers picking up a haul of 5 for 48.Chasing 292 for victory, Australia did get off to a good start with opener Alan Turner scoring a solid 40. Once he fell, wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Barring skipper Ian Chappell who authored a fine 62, rest of the batters came a cropper. Keith Boyce was the wrecker-in chief for the Windies, snaffling 4 for 50. Clive Lloyd was named Man of the Match.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1979

West Indies beat England by 92 runs :

The second World Cup, officially called The Prudential Cup, proved, like the first in 1975, a great success, and again West Indies carried off the title.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1983

India beat West Indies by 43 runs :

The third World Cup, the last to be sponsored by the Prudential Assurance Company, began with two fine surprises, when India beat West Indies and Zimbabwe beat Australia in the opening round of matches, and ended with the greatest surprise of all, when India beat West Indies again, this time in the final at Lords. None of the eight sides had to make do without a victory.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1987

Australia beat England by 7 runs :

The first World Cup final to be played outside of England was also the closest. Australia won the toss, elected to bat and made a fast start that ultimately proved the difference at the end of the match. Phil DeFreitas and Gladstone Small were wayward with the ball while David Boon took full advantage with the bat, top scoring with 75. And late in the innings, Allan Border and Mike Veletta kept the scoreboard ticking over to set an imposing 254 for victory. Tim Robinson fell in the first over of England’s reply, but soon they looked to be taking control of the match, Graham Gooch, Bill Athey, Mike Gatting and Allan Lamb all making solid contributions. But the match turned when the captains came head-to-head, Border bringing himself on to bowl and Gatting reverse-sweeping the first ball straight to Greg Dyer behind the stumps. From that point on, England slipped further and further behind the run-rate despite the best efforts of the tail, and nine runs off the final over left them seven short of victory.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1992

Pakistan beat England by 22 runs :

Despite Australia’s failure to reach the final, a record World Cup final crowd of more than 85,000 greeted Pakistan and England at the MCG. After a poor start during which Derek Pringle’s suffocating military medium pace claimed both openers, Pakistan soon found their way, with captain Imran Khan to the fore. Imran and Javed Miandad shared a third-wicket partnership of 139 that set Pakistan back on the right track. And their innings finished with a flourish when Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 42 off 35 balls with Wasim Akram chipping in with a quickfire 33 off only 19. And Wasim was soon in the action with the ball, dismissing Ian Botham for a duck in the first over of England’s innings. The left-armer’s next wickets settled the match. When he clean bowled Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in consecutive balls, England were 141 for six with the run-rate climbing. Despite the best efforts of Neil Fairbrother and the tail, England never recovered – much to the delight of the majority of the Melbourne crowd.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1996

Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 Wickets :

Sri Lanka initiated a watershed in one-day cricket at the 1996 World Cup that took them all the way to an unexpected victory. With Sanath Jayasuriya playing some of the best cricket of his career at the top of the order, their plan was to go on an all out attack in the opening 15 overs and build on that start. Everything had gone according to plan in the run-up to the final, but come that match it looked as if things may be going awry. Arjuna Ranatunga won the toss and put Australia in. The previous five finals had all been won by the team batting first. And with Mark Taylor leading from the front Australia reached 137 for one by the 27th over before attacking fielding and tight bowling stifled Australia’s efforts, limiting the favourites to a score of 241. However, with Sri Lanka’s openers back in the pavilion with only 23 runs on the board that target seemed far more foreboding – until Aravinda de Silva got going. After taking three wickets, he scored an unbeaten century and found able support from Asanka Gurusinha and Ranatunga, the skipper scoring the winning runs to seal a sensational win.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 1999

Australia beat Pakistan by 8 Wickets :

The shortest final in World Cup history. Wasim Akram won the toss and elected to bat, but his decision back-fired and none of his batsmen ever got to grips with either the wicket or the bowlers. From the moment Wajahatullah Wasti fell in the fifth over, batsmen kept walking out to bat – and back to the pavilion – with alarming frequency. Extras finished as top scorer with 25 runs in a 39-over innings in which each of the Australian bowlers picked up wickets, Shane Warne finishing with four. As they had with the ball, Australia batted with utter professionalism, although admittedly they were under no real pressure. Steve Waugh‘s men were given the perfect start by Adam Gilchrist who reached his fifty off 33 balls and they needed only 121 balls to reach the 133 runs needed for victory.

CRICKET WORLD CUP 2003

Australia beat India by 125 runs :

Australia clinched their third Cricket World Cup with a thumping 125-run victory over India. Captain Ricky Ponting hit a blistering 140 as the Aussies scored a massive 359 for two – their highest-ever one-day total. Despite a fighting 82 from Virender Sehwag , India could only make 234. And in securing their third World Cup triumph, Australia also became the only side to win all of their matches in a World Cup tournament.

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2007

Australia beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs :

Australia lifted the World Cup trophy for a record third successive time after claiming victory over Sri Lanka in a rain-shortened final on Saturday. Adam Gilchrist smashed 149, the highest individual score in a World Cup final to propel Australia to 281-4 from their allotted 38 overs before the champions restricted Sri Lanka to 215, thereby winning by a margin of 53 runs (D/L method). Sri Lanka, champions in 1996, were set a revised target of 269 off 36 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis system after rain halted play for 12 minutes during their run chase.