Down Memory Lane: The 1996 Cricket World Cup

The sixth edition of the cricket World Cup, sponsored by Wills, was held in 1996 with the three test playing nations in the Indian subcontinent, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, playing hosts to the best cricketers on the planet. To spread the game further, the International Cricket Council decided to increase the number of participating nations to 12 from 9 in the 1992 edition. Thus, three Associate members of the ICC, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and Kenya joined the nine test playing nations for this month long spectacle. In order to accommodate the teams, the format of the tournament had to be changed. Sri Lanka, Australia, India, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Kenya were clubbed together in group A with Pakistan, England, New Zealand, South Africa, UAE and the Netherlands making up group B. Each team was to play the other five teams in its group once in the league stage with the top four of each group moving to the quarter finals. Controversy dogged the tournament even before it got underway. Australia and the West Indies cited security reasons and refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka for their group matches against the Lankans due to the Central Bank bombing by the Tamil Tigers a month before the start. The ICC in the end decided to award the matches to Sri Lanka. India were among the favourites to lift the trophy along with Pakistan, South Africa and Australia. However, it was the Lankans who stunned the world as they went on to lift the title at Lahore.

Sachin Tendulkar's form did India's cause a world of good

India had Sachin Tendulkar to thank for their decent show in the group stage. Opening the innings, he went past the half-century mark in four of the five matches, getting to three figures on two of those occasions. India lost to Australia and Sri Lanka, but they had done well enough to reach the quarters. The Aussies too made it to the quarter finals quite comfortably despite the fact that their match against Sri Lanka was awarded to the hosts. However, they too had an in-form opener, Mark Waugh, who struck two centuries and a 76 to take the team to victory in three of the four remaining matches. West Indies was on the receiving end of one of the greatest upsets in history when they lost to Kenya. But fortunately, that didn’t affect their chances of progressing to the next round of matches.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were arguably the most impressive team in group A. Their openers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana adopted a strategy of taking the attack to the bowlers in the first 15 overs. They took the aerieal route whenever possible and more often than not, they succeeded. The Lankans went on to win the three matches they played and they also had a couple of matches awarded to them. As a result, they topped group A comfortably. Zimbabwe and Kenya were the minnows in group A and not many expected them to go beyond the group stages. Zimbabwe’s victory over Kenya was their only success in an otherwise forgettable tournament, whereas Kenya pulled off a major upset when they defeated the West Indies by 73 runs.

Gary Kirsten lofts one during his record breaking 188 against UAE

Elsewhere in group B, South Africa dominated proceedings with five wins out of five. They won the matches by comfortable margins and emerge as strong contenders for the title. In-form opener Gary Kirsten registered the highest score ever in a World Cup match when he scored 188 not out against UAE. Runners-up of the 1992 World Cup, England didn’t have a great group stage. The won just two matches, those against Netherlands and UAE, but that too was good enough for a quarter final berth. New Zealand didn’t have any stand out individual performer in the league matches, but the team worked quite well as a unit. The ended with three wins under their belt, including one in the opening match of the tournament against England. They too progressed to the next stage comfortably.

One of the hosts, Pakistan, rose up to the occasion to clinch four victories. The opening pair of Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar gave them good starts on quite a few occasions and that helped the team immensely. The bowling too looked good with Waqar Younis leading the way with 11 wickets in the five group stage matches. The minnows in the group, UAE and Netherlands, were both playing the first ever World Cup. Netherlands lost all their matches and ended the league stage at the bottom. UAE suffered crushing defeats at the hands of the other four teams, but they managed to pull off a 7-wicket victory over Netherlands.

Sanath Jayasuriya walks back after a destructive 82 off just 44 deliveries against England

The eight teams that were expected to reach the quarter finals did so without any major obstacles. The group stage served to be a more of a round that decided who would face whom in the quarters. The first quarter final between England and Sri Lanka at Faisalabad was pretty much a one sided. The Lankans kept things tight and restricted England to 235. Phil DeFreitas top scored for England with 67. Whatever hopes England might have had were washed away when Jayasuriya smashed 82 off just 44 deliveries to at the top of the order. The Lankans chased down the total with almost 10 overs to spare to reach their first ever World Cup semi-final. India faced arch-rivals Pakistan at Bangalore in the second quarter final. Navjot Singh Sidhu held the Indian innings together with a patient 93 while the others chipped in at the other end. Ajay Jadeja (45 off 25 balls) played a breathtaking cameo towards the end, plundering Waqar Younis for 18 and 22 runs in his last two overs. India’s total of 287 was a formidable one, but Pakistan were not going to go down without a fight. A brisk start took them to 113 for 2 after the first 15 overs. But Venkatesh Prasad picked up two quick wickets and Anil Kumble followed up with three more in relatively quick time to take India to the semis.

Mark Waugh carried over his form in the group stages into the knock-out stage

An undefeated South African side took on West Indies at Karachi for a place in the semis. An aggressive century from Brian Lara (111) took West Indies to a competitive total of 264. Andrew Hudson (54) and Daryll Cullinan (69) put together a good second wicket partnership but the spinners, Roger Harper and Jimmy Adams got into action with four and three wickets respectively to knock out South Africa. In the last quarter final, Australia pulled off a wonderful victory over their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand, at Madras to reach the last four. The Kiwis recovered from the loss of three early wickets courtesy a 168 run fourth wicket stand between skipper Lee Germon (89) and Chris Harris (130). A total of 289 was more than a decent total in those days. But an in-form Mark Waugh thought otherwise. He kept the Aussies on track with his third century of the tournament. Mark Waugh fell for 110, but Stuart Law combined with Mark’s brother Steve Waugh to knock off the remaining runs with 13 balls to spare.

Shane Warne triggered an amazing collapse to win the semi-final for Australia from a hopeless situation

The first semi-final between Sri Lanka and India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata was full of drama. After a top order collapse, Aravinda de Silva (66) and Roshan Mahanama (58) helped the Lankans recover. A few more useful contributions down the order enabled Sri Lanka to reach a total of 251. Sachin Tendulkar’s half-century took India to a comfortable poition at 98 for 1 but that’s when the dramatic collapse occured. Tendulkar fell for 66 and India lost six more wickets for just 21 runs. An enraged crowd started throwing bottles on the ground and setting the stands on fire. The players had to go off the ground and Lankans were awarded the match. The second semi-final between Australia and West Indies was a thrilling encounter. Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop reduced Australia to 15 for 4 in 40 minutes. Michael Bevan walked into join Stuart Law as the duo set out to rescue the match. They put on 138 runs for the fifth wicket before Law fell for 72. Bevan departed for 69 after a few overs, but Ian Healy’s cameo helped Australia to 207. West Indies moved on steadily with healthy contributions from three of the top-four. They were well placed at 173 for 3 needing less than a run a ball when disaster struck. Shane Warne triggered a collapse that saw West Indies losing 5 wickets for 16 runs. Skipper Richie Richardson was still out in the middle and the equation was down to ten runs to win in the last over. A first ball boundary was followed by the run-out of Ambrose. Number 11, Courtney Walsh lost his off-stump in the very first ball to send Australia through to the final.

Aravinda de Silva reaches his century in the final

The final between Sri Lanka and Australia was played under lights at Lahore. The Aussies were looking good with the bat as skipper Mark Taylor (74) and Ricky Ponting (45) put together 101 runs for the second wicket. But a small collapse, during which the Lankans picked up 4 wickets for 33 put the game back in the balance. An important knock of 36 from Bevan took Australia to a respectable total of 241. Things got better for the Aussies as they were able to send the dangerous opening combination of Sri Lanka back to the pavilion with just 23 runs on the board. But a 125 run third wicket partnership between Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva put Sri Lanka in the driver’s seat. Gurusinha fell for 65, but Aravinda went on to score an unbeaten century. He scored 107 and shared an unbroken 97-run stand with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (47 run out) to give Sri Lanka their first World Cup title. Aravinda had also picked up three wickets with the ball and hence he was the obvious choice for the man-of-the-match award.

Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatung with the World Cup trophy

Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya was declared the man-of-the-series for his all-round performance. Sachin Tendulkar ended as the highest run-scorer while Anil Kumble topped the wicket-taker’s chart. Sri Lanka’s attractive game won the hearts of many cricket fans world over. The fearless approach of their openers revolutionised the way batsmen approached the overs during the fielding restrictions. However, the 1996 World Cup was not as smooth as the previous ones. The presence of minnows led to a degradation in the overall quality of cricket. The crowd trouble at Eden Gardens in the semi-finals and the lack of action in two group matches due to security reasons in Sri Lanka didn’t help either. The idea of spreading the game to all parts of India was good in theory but not so in practice. Each of the 17 games in India were scheduled at different venues which meant that teams had to travel quite a bit between matches, resulting in fatigue among the players. A large sum of money was spent on the opening ceremony which turned out to be a rather embarrassing one as the much-hyped laser show malfunctioned. The tournament, however, achieved the aim of increasing the profile of cricket through television coverage on an impressive scale. The quality of cricket too was by and large impressive in the knock-out stages. The tournament wasn’t a huge financial success, but it helped in spreading the game further and it also demonstrated the coming of age of Sri Lankan cricket.