da spicy bet： The West Indian juggernaut just rolled over the opposition four yearslater
Partab Ramchand13-Feb-2003The West Indian juggernaut just rolled over the opposition four yearslater. For the 1979 World Cup, the Caribbeans had an even strongerteam. The batting still revolved round Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge,Vivian Richards and Alvin Kallicharran, while Desmond Haynes hadreplaced Roy Fredericks at the top of the order. But the bowling hadbecome much stronger with a string of fearsome fast bowlers in AndyRoberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft. In addition,they had an exciting all-rounder in Collis King. With this array oftalent and experience, they proved too strong and their retention ofthe title came as no surprise at all.
© ICCThere was no change in the format and as in 1975 the eight teams wereplace in two groups. Pool A featured the West Indies, New Zealand,India and Sri Lanka while pool B comprised England, Pakistan,Australia and Canada. Sri Lanka and Canada had qualified for thecompetition by finishing winners and runners-up in the newlyconstituted ICC Trophy for associate members.Not unexpectedly, West Indies topped their group with victories overIndia (by nine wickets) and New Zealand (by 32 runs). But Sri Lankabecame the first team to get points against the West Indies when theirmatch at the Oval was abandoned because of rain.Once again New Zealand beat India by eight wickets with three overs tospare to gain the second semifinalists berth from the pool. And Indiathen plumbed the depths by going down to Sri Lanka by 47 runs in theirfinal league encounter. This was a truly embarrassing defeat thataugmented the theory that India had still to come to terms with theintricacies of limited overs cricket.England and Pakistan were the favourites to qualify for the semifinalsfrom group B with Australia being weakened considerably thanks todefections to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. That was the way itturned out after a closely-contested game between the two that decidedthe pool placings. England after being 118 for eight scrambled to atotal of 165 for nine in 60 overs after Bob Taylor and Bob Willisadded 43 runs for the ninth wicket. A spell of four wickets for threeruns in eight balls by Mike Hendrick saw Pakistan reeling at 31 forsix. Asif Iqbal, however, counter attacked and played splendidly forhis 51.But Pakistan fell 14 runs short of the England total. Earlier, Englandhad shot out Canada for 45, still the lowest total in the World Cupand till 1992-93 the lowest in all one-day internationals.
© CricInfoEven if they went according to form, the semifinals were not withoutthrills. New Zealand ran England pretty close before losing by nineruns while chasing a target of 222. Pakistan in the face of animposing West Indian total of 293 for six did not throw in the toweleasily and replied boldly.Majid Khan (81) and Zaheer Abbas (93) added 166 runs for the secondwicket and at 176 for one, Pakistan seemed to be in with a chance evenif the overs were running out. But then Croft and Richards got amongthe wickets and Pakistan were bowled out for 250.The 1979 final was not as closely fought as the title clash four yearsago but it was marked by one great hundred by the peerless Richards,some big hitting by Collis King and a destructive spell by Garner. Itwas fitting that the West Indies should provide all the highlights forthey dominated the match throughout, as the final margin of 92 runswill illustrate.A sell-out crowd of 25,000 was witness to England enjoying theascendancy in the initial stages, reducing the West Indies to 99 forfour. But then Richards and King initiated a recovery process thatended in a blaze of glory. In putting together a partnership of 139runs in 21 overs, both batsmen did pretty much what they liked withthe bowling, which to be candid was pretty mediocre. With Willisinjured, England had gambled on an extra batsman and that meant theyhad only four specialist bowlers with the likes of Geoff Boycott,Wayne Larkins and Graham Gooch having to do more than their fair shareof the work.Needless to say, Richards and King were not complaining! The 12 oversshared by the three went for 86 runs. King scored 86 while Richardsremained unbeaten with a breath-taking 138, his last-ball six offHendrick being talked about even today.The final total of 286 for nine in 60 overs was imposing enough butBoycott and Mike Brearley made England’s task even tougher. True, theyraised 129 for the first wicket but they consumed 38 overs in doingso. That left the remaining batsmen with the job of getting 158 offthe final 22 overs. This was never really on particularly with `BigBird’ Joel Garner in devastating form. The 6′ 8″ Garner just rippedthrough the order with a spell of five wickets for four runs in 11balls. He finished with five for 38 as England were bowled out for 194in 51 overs and Lord’s again resembled a carnival day in Port ofSpain.