1979 Cricket World Cup
Dates | 9 June – 23 June 1979 |
---|---|
Administrator(s) | International Cricket Council |
Cricket format | One Day International |
Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout |
Host(s) |
|
Champions | West Indies (2nd title) |
Runners-up | England |
Participants | 8 |
Matches | 15 |
Attendance | 132,000 (8,800 per match) |
Most runs | Gordon Greenidge (253) |
Most wickets | Mike Hendrick (10) |
The 1979 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup '79) was the second edition of the Cricket World Cup. Organised by the International Cricket Conference, it was held in England from 9 to 23 June 1979.
The tournament was once again sponsored by the
Format
The eight teams at the tournament were split into two groups of four teams, with each team playing the others in their group in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group then advance to the semi-finals to play in a single-elimination tournament.
Participants
The 1979 tournament saw the first qualifiers in a World Cup. The 1979 ICC Trophy was held during late May and early June at various grounds in the English Midlands, with the two finalists qualifying for the World Cup where they joined the six Test nations who qualified automatically.[1] Sri Lanka and Canada qualified after defeating Denmark and Bermuda respectively in the semi-finals.[2]
Team | Method of qualification | Finals appearances | Last appearance | Previous best performance | Group |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England | Hosts | 2nd | 1975 | Semi-finals (1975) | A |
India | Full member | 2nd | 1975 | Group stage (1975) | B |
Australia | 2nd | 1975 | Runners-up (1975) | A | |
Pakistan | 2nd | 1975 | Group stage (1975) | A | |
West Indies | 2nd | 1975 | Champions (1975) | B | |
New Zealand | 2nd | 1975 | Semi-finals (1975) | B | |
Sri Lanka | 1979 ICC Trophy winner | 2nd | 1975 | Group stage (1975) | B |
Canada | 1979 ICC Trophy runner-up | 1st | — | Debut | A |
Venues
London | London | |
---|---|---|
Lord's Cricket Ground
|
The Oval | |
Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 23,500 | |
Birmingham | Manchester | |
Edgbaston Cricket Ground | Old Trafford Cricket Ground | |
Capacity: 21,000 | Capacity: 19,000 | |
Nottingham | Leeds | |
Trent Bridge | Headingley Cricket Ground | |
Capacity: 15,350 | Capacity: 14,000 | |
Squads
Group stage
Summary
The opening round of matches took place on 9 June with four matches being played. England took on Australia at Lord's and after the home team elected to field first, restricted the Australians to 97 for one with fine fielding and bowling. After Andrew Hilditch dragged his second ball after lunch into the stumps, the Australians would be restricted for 159 which included four run-outs. The run-chase saw Mike Brearley and Graham Gooch control the innings and led England to a six wicket victory.[3]
Group A
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | RR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | England | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3.066 |
2 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3.602 |
3 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3.164 |
4 | Canada | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.606 |
Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | RR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | West Indies | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3.928 |
2 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3.553 |
3 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3.558 |
4 | India | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.128 |
Knockout stage
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
20 June – Old Trafford, Manchester | ||||||
England | 221/8 | |||||
23 June – Lord's, London | ||||||
New Zealand | 212/9 | |||||
England | 194 | |||||
20 June – The Oval, London | ||||||
West Indies | 286/9 | |||||
West Indies | 293/6 | |||||
Pakistan | 250 | |||||
Semi-finals
In a very close semi-final match, England prevailed. New Zealand won the toss and fielded. England began badly, falling to 38/2, before Mike Brearley (53 from 115 balls, 3 fours) and Graham Gooch (71 from 84 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes) resurrected the innings. Derek Randall (42 from 50 balls, 1 four, 1 six) played well in the second half of the innings, as England recovered from 98/4 to post 221 (8 wickets, 60 overs). In the response, John Wright (69 from 137 balls) attacked well in the beginning. However, the loss of wickets bogged New Zealand down, and despite several late flourishes in the batting order, New Zealand started to drop behind. When New Zealand could not achieve the remaining 14 runs from the last over of the match, England went into the final.
Final
England won the toss and chose to field first. The West Indies got off to a bad start, falling to 99/4 with the loss of Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan, and captain
The English batsmen got off to a good start. But the openers,
Statistics
Gordon Greenidge ended the tournament as the leading run scorer with 253 runs coming from his four games. Second was fellow West Indian player, Viv Richards who finished with 217 runs from four games which included the highest individual score of the tournament of 138 in the final. Graham Gooch from England rounded out the top three.[4] Mike Hendrick from England was the leading wicket taker for the tournament with ten wickets from five matches with a three-way tie for second place with Brian McKechnie (New Zealand), Asif Iqbal (Pakistan) and Chris Old each taking nine wickets for the tournament.[5]
Most runs
Player | Team | Mat | Inns | Runs | Ave | SR | HS | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gordon Greenidge | West Indies | 4 | 4 | 253 | 84.33 | 62.31 | 106* | 1 | 2 | 17 | 3 |
Viv Richards | West Indies | 4 | 4 | 217 | 108.50 | 74.06 | 138* | 1 | 0 | 13+ | 4+ |
Graham Gooch | England | 5 | 5 | 210 | 52.50 | 63.82 | 71 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 4 |
Glenn Turner | New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 176 | 88.00 | 56.05 | 83* | 0 | 1 | 12+ | 0+ |
John Wright | New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 166 | 41.50 | 50.00 | 69 | 0 | 1 | 16+ | 0+ |
Most wickets
Player | Team | Mat | Inns | Wkts | Ave | Econ | BBI | SR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Hendrick | England | 5 | 5 | 10 | 14.90 | 2.66 | 4/15 | 33.6 |
Brian McKechnie | New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 9 | 15.66 | 3.07 | 3/24 | 30.5 |
Asif Iqbal
|
Pakistan | 4 | 4 | 9 | 17.44 | 3.34 | 4/56 | 31.3 |
Chris Old | England | 5 | 5 | 9 | 17.44 | 2.70 | 4/8 | 38.6 |
Michael Holding | West Indies | 4 | 4 | 8 | 13.25 | 2.58 | 4/33 | 30.7 |
Attendance
The total attendance at the tournament was 132,000,[6] including 25,000 at the final.[7]
References
- ^ "ICC Trophy 1979 – background". ESPNcricinfo.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ "Canada fight back to earn Cup place". The Daily Telegraph. 7 June 1979. p. 33.
- ^ Melford, Michael (11 June 1979). "England triumph in fine show of all-round skills". The Guardian. p. 30.
- ^ "Cricket World Cup: Highest Run Scorers". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
- ^ "Cricket World Cup: Most Wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
- ^ "The Prudential World Cup 1979". Wisden Almanack. 1 January 1980.
- ^ "The Richards Cup". ESPNcricinfo. 3 November 2014.
External links
- Cricket World Cup 1979 from Cricinfo
- Cricket World Cup 1979