1979 Cricket World Cup

1979 Cricket World Cup

Dates	9 June – 23 June
Administrator(s)	International Cricket Council
Cricket format	One Day International
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Host(s)	England
Champions	West Indies (2nd title)
Participants	8
Matches played	15
Attendance	132,000 (8,800 per match)
Most runs	Gordon Greenidge (253)
Most wickets	Mike Hendrick (10)

The 1979 Cricket World Cup (officially the Prudential World Cup) was the second edition of the tournament and was won by the West Indies. It was held from 9 to 23 June 1979 in England. The format had remained unchanged from 1975. Eight countries participated in the event. The preliminary matches were played in 2 groups of 4 each. The top two teams in each group played the semifinals, whose winners played the final.

The matches played consisted of 60 overs per team and were played in traditional white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the day and hence started early.

The Prudential Cup was lifted by Clive Lloyd, captain of the West Indies who started as the favourites to win the cup again. There was no 'Man of the Series' awarded in 1979.

Format

The format of the 1979 world cup was 2 groups of four teams, each team playing each other. The top two team from each group then advance to the Semi Finals where the winners then advance to the finals.

Participants

Highlighted are the countries to participate in the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

  Qualified as full member of ICC

  Qualified via 1979 ICC Trophy

  Failed to qualify

The following 8 teams qualified for the final tournament. Sri Lanka and Canada were the only two teams without Test status and qualified for the tournament by reaching the final of the 1979 ICC Trophy.^[1] East Africa who played in the first World cup did not qualify this time, which meant that there would be no nation from the African region participating in the 1979 World Cup.

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	Lord's The Oval Nottingham Birmingham Leeds Manchester	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 Stadium
Capacity: 15,350		Capacity: 14,000

Squads

Group Stages

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	NR	RR
England	12	3	3	0	0	3.07
Pakistan	8	3	2	1	0	3.60
Australia	4	3	1	2	0	3.16
Canada	0	3	0	3	0	1.60

9 June 1979 Scorecard

Australia  159/9 (60 overs)

v

England 160/4 (47.1 overs)

England won by 6 wickets Lord's, London, England

9 June 1979 Scorecard

Canada  139/9 (60 overs)

v

Pakistan 140/2 (40.1 overs)

Pakistan won by 8 wickets Headingley, Leeds, England

14 June 1979 Scorecard

Pakistan  286/7 (60 overs)

v

Australia 197 all out (57.1 overs)

Pakistan won by 89 runs Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England

14 June 1979 Scorecard

Canada  45 all out (40.3 overs)

v

England 46/2 (13.5 overs)

England won by 8 wickets Old Trafford, Manchester, England

16 June 1979 Scorecard

Canada  105 all out (33.2 overs)

v

Australia 106/3 (26 overs)

Australia won by 7 wickets Edgbaston, Birmingham, England

16 June 1979 Scorecard

England  165/9 (60 overs)

v

Pakistan 151 all out (56 overs)

England won by 14 runs Headingley, Leeds, England

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	NR	RR
West Indies	10	3	2	0	1	3.93
New Zealand	8	3	2	1	0	3.55
Sri Lanka	6	3	1	1	1	3.56
India	0	3	0	3	0	3.13

9 June 1979 Scorecard

India  190 all out (53.1 overs)

v

West Indies 194/1 (51.3 overs)

West Indies won by 9 wickets Edgbaston, Birmingham, England

9 June 1979 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  189 all out (56.5 overs)

v

New Zealand 190/1 (47.4 overs)

New Zealand won by 9 wickets Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England

13, 14, 15 June 1979 Scorecard

Sri Lanka

v

West Indies

Match abandoned without a ball bowled The Oval, London, England

13 June 1979 Scorecard

India  182 all out (55.5 overs)

v

New Zealand 183/2 (57 overs)

New Zealand won by 8 wickets Headingley, Leeds, England

18 June 1979 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  238/5 (60 overs)

v

India 191 all out (54.1 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 47 runs Old Trafford, Manchester, England

16 June 1979 Scorecard

West Indies  244/7 (60 overs)

v

New Zealand 212/9 (60 overs)

West Indies won by 32 runs Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	20 June - Old Trafford, Manchester
	England	221/8
	New Zealand	212/9
					23 June - Lord's, London
					England	194
					West Indies	286/9
	20 June - The Oval, London
	West Indies	293/6
	Pakistan	250

Semi-finals

In a very close semifinal 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.

Gordon Greenidge (73 from 107 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) and Desmond Haynes (65 from 115 balls, 4 fours) set a first wicket partnership of 132 runs in a match dominated by batting. Vivian Richards and Clive Lloyd also contributed solidly, as West Indies ran up 293 (6 wickets, 60 overs) against Pakistan. Majid Khan (81 from 124 balls, 7 fours) and Zaheer Abbas (93 from 122 balls) shared a second-wicket partnership of 166 runs in 36 overs in the response. However, none of the other Pakistani batsmen flourished, with Javed Miandad being bowled for a duck first ball, and Pakistan lost 9/74, beginning with the dismissal of Abbas. Pakistan was bowled all out for 250 (all out, 56.2 overs) in the high-scoring semifinal, sending the West Indies to the final.

20 June 1979 Scorecard

West Indies  293/6 (60 overs)

v

Pakistan 250 all out (56.2 overs)

West Indies won by 43 runs The Oval, London, England

20 June 1979 Scorecard

England  221/8 (60 overs)

v

New Zealand 212/9 (60 overs)

England won by 9 runs Old Trafford, Manchester, England

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 Clive Lloyd. However, Vivian Richards (138 from 157 balls, 11 fours, 3 sixes) and Collis King (86 from 66 balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes) consolidated the innings. King especially ripped through the English bowling, with a strike rate of 130.3. The West Indies were already at 238/5 when the 139 run partnership ended with the loss of Collis King. Vivian Richards and the tail then took the West Indies to a very imposing total of 286 (9 wickets, 60 overs).

The English batsmen got off to a good start. But the openers, Mike Brearley (64 from 130 balls, 7 fours) and Geoff Boycott (57 from 105 balls, 3 fours) scored very slowly. They put together a very methodical opening partnership of 129 runs in 38 overs, playing as if the match were a five-day Test. By the time both batsmen were out, the required run rate had risen too high. Graham Gooch played some hefty strokes in scoring his 32, taking England to 183/2. However, the loss of Gooch triggered the most devastating collapse in World Cup history, as England lost 8/11. They were eventually all out for 194 in 51 overs. Vivian Richards was declared Man of the Match.

23 June 1979 Scorecard

West Indies  286/9 (60 overs)

v

England 194 all out (51 overs)

West Indies won by 92 runs Lord's, London, England Attendance: 32,000

,

Statistics

Leading run scorers Runs Player Team Matches 253 Greenidge, GordonGordon Greenidge  West Indies 4 217 Richards, VivViv Richards  West Indies 4 210 Gooch, GrahamGraham Gooch  England 5 176 Turner, GlennGlenn Turner  New Zealand 4 166 John Wright  New Zealand 4

Leading wicket takers Wickets Player Team Matches 10 Hendrick, MikeMike Hendrick  England 5 9 McKechnie, BrianBrian McKechnie  New Zealand 4 9 Asif Iqbal  Pakistan 4 9 Old, ChrisChris Old  New Zealand 5 8 Holding, MichaelMichael Holding  West Indies 4

References

1. "ICC Trophy 1979 - background". espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 2013-11-09.

External links

• Cricket World Cup 1979 from Cricinfo
• Cricket World Cup 1979