da bwin： Sri Lanka’s triumph in the 1996 World Cup brought back strong memoriesof the West Indian victories of 1975 and 1979
Partab Ramchand19-Mar-2003Sri Lanka’s triumph in the 1996 World Cup brought back strong memoriesof the West Indian victories of 1975 and 1979. For one thing, SriLanka, co-hosts along with India and Pakistan, did not lose a singlegame, even if Australia and the West Indies had forfeited their gamesciting security concerns.
© ReutersSecondly, the Sri Lankan approach to batting very much resembled theflamboyant Caribbean style. Openers Sanath Jayasuriya and RomeshKaluwitharana in particular made nonsense of restrictive bowlingtactics and field-placings in the first 15 overs, so the slog did notcommence from the 40th over but from the very first. The apotheosis ofthis innovative strategy came in their match against Kenya at Kandy,when the first 50 was notched up in an astonishing 3.2 overs, en routeto 398 for five – still the highest-ever total in a one-dayinternational.The sixth World Cup returned to the subcontinent, and this time theformat was changed as the competition had extended to 12 participatingteams. The nine Test-playing nations were joined by three associatemembers – the United Arab Emirates, Holland and Kenya – and the 12sides were placed into two groups.Pool A comprised Australia, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, India,Zimbabwe and Kenya, while Pool B was made up of South Africa,Pakistan, New Zealand, England, the UAE and Holland. The top fourteams in each group qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals.With Australia, the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka from Pool A andSouth Africa, England, New Zealand and Pakistan from Pool B making itto the last eight, it would appear that there were few upsets in thepreliminary stage, but in fact, there were some surprising results.Few, for example, would have expected Sri Lanka to top the group,although detractors would argue that they were helped by bothAustralia and the West Indies refusing to travel to Colombo after abomb-blast rocked the capital weeks before the start of thetournament. Considering the manner in which Sri Lanka played, however,a victory over both Australia and the West Indies could not be ruledout, and this argument received certification when Sri Lanka defeatedAustralia by seven wickets in the final at Lahore.In the three remaining group matches, Sri Lanka defeated Zimbabwe bysix wickets, India by the same margin and Kenya by 144 runs. By thistime, they had emerged as the team to beat, and there was no stoppingthem in the knock-out stage either. In the quarter-final they rompedto a five-wicket victory over England with 10 overs to spare, and inthe semifinal against India at Calcutta, they were well on top whenrioters disrupted proceedings by setting the stands afire and throwingobjects on the field.The circumstances were unfortunate, especially for a traditionallycricket-loving city, and match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the matchto Sri Lanka after they had led off by scoring 251 for eight in 50overs and India were tottering at 120 for eight in 34.1 overs. In thefinal, they capped a memorable tournament by coasting to victory overAustralia, making light of what seemed to be a challenging Australiantotal of 241 for seven by racing to victory with seven wickets andnearly four overs to spare.The speed at which the Sri Lankans made their runs was quiteastonishing. At the end of the tournament, four front-line batsmen hada strike rate of over 100. Kaluwitharana’s strike-rate was 140.38 per100 balls, Jayasuriya’s 131.54, Arjuna Ranatunga’s 114.76 and Aravindade Silva’s 107.69. De Silva was in splendid form, getting 448 runswith two hundreds and two fifties at an average of 89.60. He emulatedMohinder Amarnath by nabbing the Man of the Match awards in both thesemifinals and final.Jayasuriya scored 221 runs in swashbuckling fashion, demoralising thebowlers totally. He also picked up seven wickets and was adjudged asthe Player of the Tournament. Ranatunga (241) and polished left-handerAsanka Gurusinha (307) were the other batsmen who played a notablerole in the triumph. Such was the strength of the batting that theservices of Hashan Tillekeratne and Roshan Mahanama were hardlyrequired. The bowling mainly revolved round Chaminda Vaas and MuttiahMuralitharan, and the two did their job commendably.
© CricInfoIf Sri Lanka topping their group was a major surprise, the singlebiggest shock was provided by Kenya. The African nation pulled offarguably the biggest upset in the competition’s history by defeatingthe West Indies by 73 runs. In the face of a Kenyan total of 166, theWest Indies collapsed dramatically for 93. Kenya, however, stillfinished at the bottom of the group; following Sri Lanka wereAustralia, India and the West Indies in that order.In group B, things moved more according to prediction. South Africawon all five matches to finish on top, taking heavy toll of thebowling of the two weak teams, the UAE and Holland, and notching uptotals of 300-plus each time. Against the UAE, Gary Kirsten notched up188 not out, still the highest score in the World Cup. Pakistan, NewZealand and England followed in that order.The highlight of the quarter-finals was a high-voltage encounter atBangalore between India and Pakistan. To the jubilation of the homecrowd, India won by 39 runs. There was a minor surprise when the WestIndies got the better of hotly fancied South Africa, who buckled underpressure to lose by 19 runs at Karachi. In-form Sri Lanka were toostrong for England at Faisalabad, while Australia overcame a gallantchallenge from New Zealand at Madras.In the penultimate round, the West Indies, after having things wellunder control, went down to Australia by five runs at Mohali. In theface of an Australian total of 207 for eight in 50 overs, the WestIndies seemed to be cruising home at 165 for two. But the last eightwickets fell in a heap, and the West Indies were all out for 202 inthe last over.In the other semifinal at Calcutta, India too were in a strongposition with a score of 98 for one in reply to Sri Lanka’s 251 foreight. Thereafter it was a veritable procession of wickets, andLloyd’s decision in awarding the match to Sri Lanka following theresultant disturbances was the right one.
© CricInfoWhile the Sri Lankans predictably garnered many of the individualhonours, a few other players too left their mark. Sachin Tendulkar wasthe leading run-getter, scoring 523 runs with two hundreds and threefifties. Mark Waugh was not far behind with 484 runs, in the processbecoming the first player to get three centuries in a single WorldCup. Saeed Anwar (329), Aamir Sohail (272), Hansie Cronje (276),Andrew Hudson (275), Gary Kirsten (391) and Brian Lara (269) wereothers to be among the runs.Batsmen generally called the shots on subcontinental wickets, butthere were a few bowlers like Roger Harper (12), Damien Fleming (12),Shane Warne (12), Waqar Younis (13) and Anil Kumble (15) who bravedadverse conditions and performed commendably. The tournament alsomarked the end of Javed Miandad’s distinguished career, making him theonly cricketer to play in all the first six World Cup competitions.