Revisiting 10 top World Cup encounters from the past

[MenInG]

10 greatest World Cup matches

Low-scoring thrillers, tenterhook ties and compelling comebacks – the 11 editions of the Cricket World Cup have had them all.

Whether it’s a Kevin O’Brien-inspired Ireland chasing down 328 or India recovering from 17 for five to claim victory, cricket fans have been on the edge of their seats from the start.

And as the world’s top 10 teams prepare to do battle for cricket’s greatest prize across 11 venues, a slew of new classic matches are sure to follow.

Here’s a walk down memory lane through the Cricket World Cup’s top 10 matches.

Australia v West Indies, 1975

The first Cricket World Cup final was always going to go down in the annals – but West Indies and Australia produced a game that stands the test of time as one of the tournament’s greatest.

Lord’s was the stage and scorching midsummer weather meant the crowds were spilling out of the bleachers, young fans romping onto the outfield with every boundary struck.

And Clive Lloyd played a canonical captain’s innings, hauling his side from 50 for three into the ascendancy thanks to a brutal century in a 149 fourth-wicket stand with Rohan Kanhai.

Despite a rousing run-chase, solidified by Ian Chappell’s 62, Australia fell 17 runs short of a target of 291 – ousted by Viv Richards’s excellence in the field, memorable executing three straight runouts.


Australia v South Africa, 1999

Nine runs with one over remaining.

It seemed a simple equation separating South Africa and the Cricket World Cup final – yet what followed was an art form of indecision and drama that saw them miss out on a first-ever final.

Australia hauled themselves to 213, reigned in by Shaun Pollock’s five for 36, and Jonty Rhodes and Jacques Kallis combined to leave their country needing one run to win with one wicket left.

But when Lance Klusener bunted to mid-off, Allan Donald didn’t hear his call for a quick single, Adam Gilchrist whipped off the bails and the Aussies wheeled away.


England v Ireland, 2011

76010 England v Ireland: Group B - 2011 ICC World Cup

In the storied history of the Cricket World Cup, no single name has ever been so deeply intertwined with one fixture as Kevin O’Brien is with this particular thriller.

The first half of the game saw Goliath flex their muscles, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott firing England to 327 for eight from their 50 overs, a total no side had ever previously chased down.

Up stepped O’Brien, without a half-century in nine World Cup knocks, to bludgeon 13 fours and six sixes to upset the steepest odds.

It was the fastest century in Cricket World Cup history and an innings that may never be bettered for its sheer significance to the Irish cricketing story.


New Zealand v South Africa, 2015

Where else but Eden Park for New Zealand’s red-letter World Cup day, the best part of 100 overs of a pulsating semi-final that ended with the hosts victorious.

South Africa – again in search of a first showpiece appearance – had their foot in the home side’s throat for the most part, Faf du Plessis and AB De Villiers dragging their side to 281 from 43 overs.

The Proteas were met with the full force of a nation in the run-chase, however, and Brendon McCullum’s bat to boot as the skipper slapped 56 at a cool strike-rate of 226.

It needed Grant Elliott to play the innings of his life, however, matching the pressure of needing five runs from two balls by lifting Dale Steyn for six over mid-on and sparking wild celebrations.


England v India 2011

There doesn’t need to be a winner for a game to be a stone-cold classic and 2011’s clash between host nation India and England proves that in abundance.

Cricket can’t produce a sharper pressure than the expectation on India ahead of a World Cup campaign on home soil and an opening-night win over Bangladesh assuaged nerves.

And Bangalore was treated to the Little Master at his magical best, Sachin Tendulkar caressing his way to 120 and setting a towering 339.

Andrew Strauss, not a batsman whose technique recalls short-form pyrotechnics, led by example in compiling 158 – Graham Swann and Ajmal Shahzad shepherding their side to a thrilling tie.


India v Zimbabwe, 1983

There’s something sublime about a team romping unfettered to victory but there’s nothing that woos cricketing hearts more than a rousing recovery from batting oblivion.

India sunk to 17 for five in a top-order totter to match all others and it seemed their signal victory over reigning champions West Indies in the opening game would go to waste.

But skipper Kapil Dev smote 175 from 138 balls, somehow sending his side up to 266 and setting a stern run-chase for Zimbabwe.

Madan Lal and Dev turned the screw with the ball, earning a remarkable victory and setting the tone for a campaign that would end in India lifting the World Cup trophy at Lord’s a fortnight later.


Australia v India, 1987

With the Cricket World Cup venturing away from familiar English climes for the first time since its inception, a thrilling opening game was needed to prove India could be equally fine hosts.

But none of the thousands who packed into the ground in Madras could have envisaged just how closely matched the two nations would be.

Australia silenced the home crowd with a commanding effort with the bat, Geoff Marsh carving out 110 and asking India to chase down 270 from their 50 overs.

For every Indian wicket that fell, a commanding partnership followed in a compelling push-pull encounter but the heroics of Navjot Sidhu and Krishnamachari Srikkanth would prove in vain and a one-run loss.


Australia vs West Indies 1996

Tendulkar's first century came in his second tournament in 1996, where he scored 127* against Kenya

This game marked the passing of one cricketing dynasty and the birth of another as West Indies were stopped at the semi-final stage for the first time ever by Australia.

Richie Richardson, bowing out of one-day cricket at the end of the tournament, would have been rubbing his hands when Australia slumped to 15 for four.

But even as Stuart Law and Michael Bevan led a recovery to 207, West Indies looked like they had more than enough as Shivnarine Chanderpaul careered them to 165 for two.

Then came a batting collapse of epic proportions, seven wickets falling for 29 runs and the Aussies reaching their first final in nine years.


India vs Pakistan 2003

Great rivals India and Pakistan produced a superb encounter and those present in Centurion saw three phenomenon’s of the one-day game at the peak of their powers.

The first was Saeed Anwar, who flicked and forced his way to a century to keep his team in the contest by posting 273 for seven from 50 overs.

Tendulkar was, once again, at his nuggety best and produced one of his best one-day innings to guide his side to victory.

But many will remember the game for the sheer venom of Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling, dismissing Tendulkar with an absolute snorter that struck a blow for the whole of Pakistan.


India v Windies 1983

You can’t beat a low-scoring thriller and one of the classics of the genre came on the biggest stage – the Cricket World Cup final 36 years ago.

The vaunted West Indies bowling attack suffocated India with swing, seam and pace with Andy Roberts taking three for 32 from 10 overs and Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding two scalps each.

Knocking off 184 seemed an elementary task but Viv Richards’s side faltered, failing to live up to the favourites tag that saw them victorious in the first two editions of the tournament.

Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath were chief tormentors as the great cricketing power of the era was brought to its knees in front of 30,000 at Lord’s.

 

[Shaddy86]

"many will remember the game for the sheer venom of Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling, dismissing Tendulkar with an absolute snorter that struck a blow for the whole of Pakistan"

All I remember is that I had never seen a bowler being hit over point for sixes, the first 10 overs were brutal and by the time teenda was out, the game was well over.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Pakistan vs India World Cup games are just overrated. They are hardly competitive and are only hyped for all the non-cricketing reasons.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Australia in my opinion have given the best world cup matches.

Some of them not mentioned in the OP:

Australia vs SA 1999 world cup Super Sixes match - A must win for Australia famous for Waugh's brilliant 100 and Gibb's comical drop

Pakistan vs Australia 1999 world cup group match - Wasim's yorker to Martyn to win the game was a great moment for Pakistani fans

Australia vs New Zealand 2015 world cup group match - Brilliant bowling by Boult which was surpassed by even better performance of Starc

1996 final with SL - a very underrated game, brilliant all-round performance by Aravinda

2011 world cup game with Pakistan - a low scoring thriller that ended Australia's winning streak in World cups

Australia vs New Zealand 1996 world cup quarter final - a high scoring game famous for outstanding hundreds by Mark Waugh and Chris Harris

Australia vs New Zealand 1992 world cup opening match - Brilliant hundred and captaincy by Crowe which overcame Boon's magnificent hundred

 

[MenInG]

Winning a World Cup is never easy, just ask Sachin Tendulkar – it took the great man until his sixth and final attempt to get his hands on that coveted piece of silverware.

And when you consider the tournament’s relatively short history and the pre-eminence of certain sides in that period – most notably the West Indies at the outset and Australia since the turn of the century – there are inevitably going to be some great names who never got to lift that famous triple-columned trophy.

Indeed, while below we have picked our 10 greatest who never won it all – the shortlist of candidates who just missed this list is packed with all-time greats.

How can we overlook pace masters like Allan Donald, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose?

Not to mention the timeless class of a Martin Crowe or Zaheer Abbas?

And what about this current England side that have so dominated 50-over cricket since the last tournament? Do any of them merit a mention?

Certainly the likes of Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan are in the discussion – and there is no accounting for taste after all.

Everyone will have their own favourites, but I hope you will all agree that our chosen 10 below all make compelling cases.


Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch couldn’t have done much more to win a World Cup.

After all, he played in three finals – captaining them in 1992 – and yet was on the losing side each time.

His century in the 1987 semi-final to defeat India in Mumbai was one of England’s greatest World Cup knocks.

And when you throw in his longevity – his first ODI came in 1976 and his last in 1995 – the great man appears to have a pretty cast-iron case for inclusion here.

Not to mention the fact that his tally of 22,211 List A Runs is the most of any batsmen, ever.


Ian Botham

Botham played in two World Cup finals with England and his all-round talents were brought to bear on the biggest stage of all.

With the ball he was a consistent threat throughout his ODI career – but he hit his peak at the 1992 tournament.

He picked up 16 wickets in 10 games and was instrumental in their run to the final. Throw in his ability to pinch hit at the top of the order as well as in his more traditional lower middle order and you have an understanding of just what Botham offered a team.

Probably a victim of being born in the wrong era when it comes to limited overs cricket –in today’s game Botham would have been re-writing batting records to go with his bowling ones.


Waqar Younis

It feels so cruel to bring it up all over again.

But Waqar Younis – one of the greatest fastest bowlers of his or any era – was injured and did not appear for Pakistan in their historic 1992 World Cup success.

Wasim Akram starred with the ball that tournament – finishing as top wicket taker – but the player with whom he formed such a feared pair was not there.

A pioneer of reverse swing with the older ball – Younis was near impossible to hit in the death overs while his work with the new ball earned him his nickname ‘The Burewala Express’.

Younis’s ODI brilliance really is without question – no one has more five-wicket hauls in history in this format than the great man – who was at least part of the team that made the final in 1999 only to come unstuck against the Australians.


Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly played in three World Cups between 1999-2007 and led India to the final in 2003.

And while his individual brilliance is without doubt – he hit three centuries in the 2003 tournament alone – his real influence was on creating the dominant India side we see in front of us today.

As an aggressive, and often outspoken captain, Ganguly turned his country into the fighting unit that they are today.

Under his guidance they turned from an easy touch away from home to world class the world over.

It was just a shame that the skipper who nurtured so many young stars was not there when it all finally came to fruition in 2011.

But his record at World Cups is beyond reproach – the Bengal Tiger hit 1006 runs across 22 matches at an average of 55.88.


Brian Lara

Brian Lara’s records in Test cricket are known to even the most casual of cricket fans.

But the Prince of Port of Spain was also a titan of the one-day era and racked up the runs in 50-over cricket much like he did in the longest form.

Very few players before him had passed 10,000 career ODI runs – and even now he sits 10th in the overall standings.

He played the unsatisfyingly high number of 299 ODIs for the West Indies but was one of very few men to pass 150 three times in an individual knock.

His style remained dashing to the last and that he arrived at the end of the West Indies’ long period of dominance is a shame for him, but a relief for the rest of the world.


Lance Klusener

The man they called Zulu – chiefly because of his fluency of the language – was an all-rounder of serious talent.

A fine red-ball player, Klusener would come alive in limited overs cricket and his annus mirabilis was undoubtedly 1999.

Voted man of the tournament as South Africa crashed out in the semi-finals, his big hitting and canny bowling made him the most valuable player by far and Wisden’s cricketer of the Year in 2000.

But he was no flash in the pan either, the South African with the baseball style backlift finished his career with an ODI batting average of 41 and bowling average of 29.

That puts him on a par with some of the great all-rounders in South African history – and indeed world cricketing history.


Jacques Kallis

After Lance Klusener, it only seems right to mention the great South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis.

Across both Tests and ODIs, there was little Kallis couldn’t do. And what a long time he managed to do it for.

He took 273 wickets and scored over 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, and was the first name on the team sheet for the Proteas year after year.

Only one other all-rounder in the history of the format has scored over 10,000 runs and taken 250 wickets – Sanath Jayasuriya.

And with 17 hundreds and 86 fifties, Kallis was the man with the willow who could do it all for his country – re-build an innings or press the accelerator after a strong start.

It’s just a shame that so many South African greats never got to lift the biggest prize in the format despite their golden generation.


Kumar Sangakkara

There was no more fitting way for Kumar Sangakkara to prove his brilliance in one day cricket than with his sign off at the 2015 World Cup.

The Sri Lankan left hander with silky smooth class smote four straight tons during the tournament.

Throw in his years of compiling runs while also keeping wickets – at the end of his career he switched to specialist batsman and saw his numbers go through the roof – and Sangakkara’s numbers are eye-popping.

By the end of his international career, only Sachin Tendulkar had more ODI runs than he.

The one achievement lacking in an exemplary copybook was that he never won it all but he was too young for Sri Lanka’s 1996 title and lost in the 2007 and 2011 finals – even if he did average more than 50 across the two show-piece appearances.


AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers could do things with a bat in his hand that no other batsman could have even dreamed of.

A career ODI average of 53.50 puts him in rarefied air but with a strike rate north of 100 makes him in a category all of his own.

Throw in his 31-ball ton against the West Indies – the fastest of all time no less – and the de Villiers CV is compelling just on numbers alone.

But watching the Proteas legend bat was about so more than the statistics. He could see shots others couldn’t, would give death bowlers nightmares and could single-handedly take a game away from your team in a nanosecond.

With his tennis, hockey and golf brilliance, he had power, timing and precision to bash you down the ground or paddle you over his own head – setting fields to him was impossible.


Shahid Afridi

You don’t get the nickname ‘Boom Boom’ for nothing.

But while Shahid Afridi burst onto the scene as a big-hitting middle order batsman for Pakistan – his career has been one of reinvention.

Yes, he could hit the ball a mile and his 37-ball century back in 1996 was a record that stood for a long time.

But his wrist spin – that began as a part-time practice – also saw him end up as the current fifth highest wicket taker of all time.

Add to that his captaincy and Afridi’s all-round talents make him one of the greats that dragged the game of cricket into the modern era that we now know and love.

 

[MenInG]

Lady Luck can either be a kind or cruel mistress, depending on the day, and cricket certainly hasn’t avoided her intervention over the years.

Countless moments of brilliance have lit up the ICC Cricket World Cup during its more than four decades of existence but there have also been plenty of instances where luck played a crucial part.

Before the 2019 edition gets underway, and the latest generation of stars will either be thanking or cursing their luck, we look back at three times that players and countries prospered and three times they faltered in unusual circumstances.

THE LUCKY TRIO

Australia win 1999 nail-biter

Australia had lost two of its first three matches in 1999 but made it to the Super Six stage, where captain Steve Waugh’s unbeaten century against South Africa saw his side into the semi-finals.

Once again, Waugh’s men met South Africa with a place in the final on the line and they would need plenty of luck to reach the showpiece.

Put in to bat, Australia lost its final four wickets for six runs and set a meagre target of 213, lower than anything Geoff Marsh’s players had previously posted.

South Africa eased to 48 without loss before falling to 61 for four but recovered with runs from Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes.

When both batsmen fell, another mini-collapse followed and with eight balls left, the last-wicket pairing of Lance Klusener and Allan Donald needed 16.

Powerhouse Klusener struck a six, retained the strike and began the final over with consecutive boundaries to leave the scores level with four balls remaining.

South Africa needed to win to reach the final as a tie would see Australia qualify after finishing above it in the Super Six stage. Cue, one of the most fortunate moments in Australian cricketing history.

Waugh packed the in-field and from the ante-penultimate ball, Klusener set off for a run.

Donald – who had nearly been run out the previous ball after backing up too far – was slow to react and, when he did, subsequently dropped his bat, allowing Damien Fleming and Adam Gilchrist to run him out at the keeper’s end, leaving the Proteas one run short.

Australia reached the final in dramatic, but undeniably fortunate, circumstances and took full advantage by beating Pakistan in the final to win its second ICC Cricket World Cup.


England benefit from unreachable target

South Africa’s first ICC Cricket World Cup appearance in 1992 ended in heartbreak thanks to one of the most infamous rain interruptions in history.

In the semi-final against England, South Africa needed 22 from 13 deliveries when the umpires took the players of the field due to increasingly heavy rain.

The delay lasted just 10 minutes but with television coverage dictating that the match end that day, two overs were lost and the target was reduced.

Luckily for England, this was in the days before the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, with the Most Productive Overs rule being used instead – which only removed the runs scored by England in their two lowest-scoring overs.

That left the Proteas with the impossible task of still needing 21 but only having one delivery to get it – which Brian McMillan hit for a single.

England won by 20 runs but batsman Allan Lamb, playing against the country of his birth, later said he believed South Africa would have won if not for the rain delay. Lucky indeed!



Lloyd’s favourable drop

West Indies won the inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup in 1975 and four years later found thsmselves in the final again – facing hosts England.

They racked up a competitive score of 286 for nine – thanks to Viv Richards’s majestic unbeaten 138 and Collis King’s quickfire 86 – before a second-innings drop ultimately proved Lady Luck was also aiding its cause.

England were making steady progress by reaching 79 for no loss at tea but unfortunately, that was after 25 overs – openers Geoffrey Boycott and Mike Brearley nurdling the gentle off-spin of Richards for singles instead of taking the game to its visitors at Lord’s.

Boycott had taken 17 overs to reach double figures and shortly after tea he spooned the ball to wide mid-on where Clive Lloyd, normally an excellent fielder, contrived to drop it.

That gave the Windies more overs of England’s sluggish openers taking the game away from their own team as although the Boycott-Brearley partnership was eventually broken with the score on 129 in the 39th over, the damage was done.

England’s bigger hitters down the order didn’t have enough time to chase the target down and from 183 for two, they lost eight wickets for 11 runs with a series of desperate hoicks and heaves as West

Indies clinched a second World Cup by 92 runs.

“I could have watched them [Boycott and Brearley] all day because I knew every over they batted was another nail in their coffin,” Lloyd later noted.

“A lot of people suggested I put [the catch] down purposefully just to keep him in. It's not true, but it wouldn't have been a bad tactic.”

THE UNFORTUNATE TRIUMVIRATE

Taylor stranded on 98

James Taylor strode to the crease at Melbourne in England’s first ICC Cricket World Cup match in 2015 having never made an international century. He would soon come agonisingly close but be left unable to get over the line.

England were 66 for four, chasing 343 against Australia, when Taylor entered the fray. Wickets continued to fall around him and only a 92-run, seventh-wicket partnership with Chris Woakes threatened to keep his side in the contest.

But another collapse left him with No.11 James Anderson coming to the middle, the match all but gone and the diminutive batsman needing 24 more runs for a maiden ton.

Anderson proved a surprisingly useful partner and Taylor added 22 from 16 deliveries to move to the brink of a milestone.

Josh Hazlewood then rapped him on the pad and umpire Aleem Dar gave him out on the field, only for Taylor to be reprieved when his review reversed the decision.

The 25-year-old’s relief was short-lived however as Anderson had been run out in the confusion, leaving Taylor stranded two short of a magnificent hundred.

To his credit, he would eventually go on to get three figures against Australia in an ODI later that year but with retirement forced upon him aged 26 when he was diagnosed with an incurable heart condition, Taylor would never celebrate a century at a World Cup.

Scotland narrowly miss out

Sometimes, the misfortune comes before the tournament and stops you even reaching the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Scotland came within touching distance of a spot at the 2019 edition of the tournament during the qualifying phase, but narrowly missed out after rain ended a contest with the West Indies.

Set a target of 198, with the winner securing a place in England and Wales this summer, Scotland recovered from an early wobble and needed a very gettable 94 from 111 balls with six wickets still in hand.

But it quickly went downhill as Richie Berrington was given out LBW and Scotland fell behind on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score – slipping to 125 for five, with rain in Harare soon ending the match prematurely.

The target was readjusted to 131 and Scotland were heartbreakingly left six runs short – missing out on reaching back-to-back World Cups for the first time.

Had Berrington just survived until the interruption, his side would have been three runs ahead of the target but instead it was the Windies who progressed to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

England denied by politics

The 2003 World Cup was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya but social and political unrest in Zimbabwe lent a slightly strange atmosphere to the tournament.

Following their first game, Henry Olonga and Andy Flower spoke out about Robert Mugabe’s oppressive regime by releasing a statement to journalists denouncing the “death of democracy” in their homeland and took to the field wearing black armbands.

The duo’s courageous actions spelt the end of their international careers and subjected them to a life in exile but the team benefitted from some good fortune that denied England a place in the knockout stages.

England’s first group game was supposed to be against the Chevrons in Harare but death threats in the days leading up to the match saw the ECB refuse to fulfil the fixture, citing safety concerns, and Zimbabwe were awarded a walkover.

Nasser Hussain’s men went on to beat the Netherlands, Namibia and Pakistan but the four points awarded to Zimbabwe saw them qualify for the Super Sixes ahead of England by two points – an unfortunate situation for this year’s hosts.

 

[MenInG]

From Imran Khan’s rallying call in 1992 through Steve Waugh’s infamous taunt to Herschelle Gibbs in 1999 and MS Dhoni’s national shame in 2007.

The 164 was Ponting's greatest ODI knock, but Herschelle Gibbs played an even better hand on the day

“I want my team to play like cornered tigers.”

“You’ve just dropped the World Cup mate”.

“It felt as if we had committed a big crime, maybe like a murderer or terrorist or something.”

Any cricket fan worth his salt knows these quotes and which Cricket World Cups they refer to.

From Imran Khan’s rallying call in 1992 through Steve Waugh’s infamous taunt to Herschelle Gibbs in 1999 and MS Dhoni’s national shame in 2007.

As much as any cover drive or searing yorker – a quote can come to encapsulate a tournament.

And at a Cricket World Cup – the war is waged by word of mouth as much as it is out in the middle.

The first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 were hosted in England. But make no mistake, they were all about the West Indies.

The swagger of Viv Richards, the captaincy of Clive Lloyd and the pace of Messrs Garner, Roberts and Holding. The Caribbean kings stormed to both of the tournament crowns.

But the first quote that encapsulated the struggles of transitioning to this new form of limited overs cricket came in the curtain raiser at Lord’s.

Sunil Gavaskar produced an absurdly slow innings in India’s opening group game against England.

Chasing 334 to win, Gavaskar opened the batting and crawled to 36 not out from a whopping 174 balls – prompting his team manager GS Ramchand to pull his hair out:

"It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen. His excuse [to me] was, the wicket was too slow to play shots but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334.”

In 1983 – when it looked like it was going to victory for a third time for the dominant West Indies – a certain Kapil Dev and India had other ideas.

Written off by all and sundry before the tournament – David Frith in his capacity as editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly had written the following:

"Show me a person who gave Kapil Dev's team any chance of winning the 1983 World Cup and I will show you a liar and an opportunist."

How quickly he was made to eat his words as India stunned the West Indies in the third final in a row at Lord’s.

“The joy of winning the World Cup cannot be compared with any amount of money,” said the Indian skipper.

The 1987 edition was the last World Cup to be played in whites and it was Allan Border’s Australia that claimed the crown.

But 1992 was all about Pakistan and that man Imran Khan.

Facing elimination in the group stage after one win in their first five games, Khan wore a tiger T-shirt for the toss against Australia in a must-win game.

Then he called on his side to fight like ‘cornered tigers’.

It certainly produced the desired results, as his side then won five on the spin, including the final against Graham Gooch's Englishmen to claim their first and so far only World Cup crown.

There was another new name on the trophy in 1996 as Sri Lanka, just 15 years after becoming a Test-playing nation – shocked the world and re-invented the wheel of white-ball cricket.

They became the first team to win a World Cup final chasing and while Aravinda de Silva played the match-winning knock no one epitomised their fearless approach than their captain.

On the eve of the final against an Australia side on the verge of greatness, the skipper had labelled Shane Warne ‘an average spinner’ and little more than a media myth.

That he then proceeded to treat him with similar disdain when facing him out the middle, walloping him for a four and a six on their way to a totemic win.

A mention too for England chairman Ray Illingworth who, after Neil Smith was carried from the field retired ill in their group game against UAE, said with a straight face: “He had a pizza last night. Now it’s on the field out there.”

In 1999 Australia got their hands back on the trophy – victory secured in an extremely one-sided final against Pakist

But the story of that tournament was undoubtedly the two outrageously dramatic games with South Africa.

The first meeting came in the Super Sixes and THAT drop from Gibbs to reprieve Steve Waugh who would go on to make a match-winning 120 not out.

The quote: “You’ve just dropped the World Cup mate” has gone down in folklore – although subsequently both Gibbs and Waugh have denied that was the exact wording.

But either way, Waugh saved his country and set up a semi-final re-match that was even more compelling.

Chasing 213, the Proteas looked home and hosed as man of the tournament Lance Klusener continued his brutal onslaught.

But the last-over run out of Allan Donald will never be forgotten: “It was one of the biggest mistakes that you'll ever probably see in cricket that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy."

Four years later and Australia continued their dominance – this time dispatching India in the 2003 final by 125 runs.

The story in the build-up though was all about Adam Gilchrist’s decision to walk in the semi-final.

As he himself said: “The guys back in the viewing room were a bit stunned at what I'd done. Flabbergasted, really, that I'd do it in a World Cup semi. While I sat there, thinking about it and being asked about it, I kept going back to the fact that, well, at the end of the day, I had been honest with myself.”

But the real story of 2003 was the fairytale run of Kenya all the way to the semi-finals.

Accompanied by Minister for Sport Najib Balala, the minnows who shocked the world order returned home to a heroes’ welcome.

"Kenya did not win the World Cup but we certainly won many hearts all over the world," said Balala.

"Steve [Tikolo] and the boys united the whole country. We are a power to be reckoned with.”

It was the year 2007 and Australia again reigned supreme – a dream send-off for Glenn McGrath who claimed a record 26 wickets in the tournament.

The credit in the final though went to Gilchrist for his superb century that prompted Mahela Jayawardene to say: “It was simply a brilliant innings from Gilchrist, unfortunately I was the opposition captain watching it.”

The bad news for the tournament was that both India and Pakistan were eliminated in the group stages.

And MS Dhoni recounted the horror of arriving back in Delhi to a police escort.

“With media cars around us with their cameras and the big lights on top, it felt as if we had committed a big crime, maybe like a murderer or terrorist or something.

“We were actually chased by them. After a while, we entered a police station. We went there, we sat for a while and then we left in our cars after 15-20 minutes. That actually had a big impact on me and

I channeled the aggression to become a better cricketer and a better human being.”

Four years later, and it was all about redemption for India and Dhoni.

“Winning the World Cup was very special because it meant so much to so many. One thing about our country that is constant is cricket,” said the skipper after their final win over Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

“The smile it brought to people's faces was the thing I shall always remember. It reminded me, reminded all of us, of our importance to the lives of the Indian people less lucky than we are.”

Most of all it was a special farewell for Tendulkar – claiming a World Cup winners medal in his sixth and final attempt.

“As a young boy, I grew up wanting to win it some day. It was something I always wanted. This is the ultimate trophy, the ultimate thing which brings smiles on the nation’s face. It’s the proudest moment of my life. It’s never too late”

And after carrying Tendulkar on their shoulders around the ground, future India skipper and star Virat Kohli summed it up best: “He’s (Tendulkar) carried the burden of the nation for 21 years so it’s time we carried him on our shoulders”

But for India’s celebrations, there was also heartbreak for South Africa as their wait for a knockout win continued.

“The monkey on our back has almost become a gorilla now and until we win an ICC event it's always going to be there I'm afraid,” admitted coach Micky Arthur.

Last, but by no means least, comes 2015 and Australia’s return to the top.

India’s group stage clash with Pakistan in Adelaide might have stopped traffic – “I haven't seen the frenzy like that… these guys are bigger stars than Jagger and the Stones,” said a lady police officer who was on duty both during the Rolling Stones' visit to Adelaide last October and Sunday's India-Pakistan blockbuster – but Australia stopped all in front of them.

And the victory in the end was, fittingly, dedicated to the late Phillip Hughes who had died the year before when struck by a bouncer in a Sheffield Shield game.

"I'm sure everybody on this stage will say we played this World Cup with 16 players," said Clarke after his team's seven-wicket final win over New Zealand.

"Hughesy used to party as good as any of them so I guarantee we'll celebrate hard tonight."