The 1987 Cricket World Cup (Reliance World Cup) 


was the fourth edition
of the tournament. It was held from October 8 to November 8, 1987 in
India and Pakistan - the first held outside England. The format was
unchanged from 1983 except for a reduction in the number of overs a
team played from 60 to 50, the current standard. 8 countries
participated in the event. The preliminary matches were played in 2
groups of 4 each in which each country played its groupmates twice.
The top two teams in each group qualified for the semifinals, whose
winners played the final. The matches were played with traditional
white clothing and with red balls. They were all played during the
day. There was no 'Man of the Series' awarded in 1987.The 1987 World
Cup was lifted by Allan Border, captain of Australia who won against
arch-rivals England by 7 runs in the most closely fought World Cup
final to date in the Eden Gardens stadium in Calcutta. The other
semifinalists, India and Pakistan failed to bring about an eagerly
awaited India-Pakistan final. The West Indies failed to live up to
expectations by not even qualifying for the semifinals.

Final Highlights:

1987 World Cup final was played between Australia and England.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat. David Boon (75 from 125
balls, 7 fours) top-scored for Australia, whose batsmen scored
fluently. Australia posted 253 (5 wickets, 50 overs). Mike Veletta (45
from 31 balls, 6 fours) cut loose late in the innings, as Australia
scored 65 runs from the last 6 overs of their innings. In the English
reply, opener Tim Robinson was bowled for a first ball duck. Bill
Athey (58 from 103 balls, 2 fours) top-scored, and England were almost
on target,when captain Mike Gatting (41 from 45 balls, 3 fours, 1 six)
handed back the initiative with the loss of his wicket, which ended a
growing partnership of 69 runs in 13 overs between him and Athey.
Allan Lamb (45 from 55 balls, 4 fours) also posted a great innings,
but it was in vain as the required run-rate for England began to rise.
When England failed to score the last 17 runs from the final over, the
cup went to Australia.


Tournament Highlights:

In 1987 World cup league match, Windies played against Srilanka. All
cricketing nations are aware of the batting skills of Richards by
then. But Srilankan bowling attack was literally hammered in this
world cup by Richard, who was almost at the end of his career.
Richards scored 181 in 125 balls with the help of 16 Fours and 7 Sixes
and became the record holder for highest individual score in ODI
cricket till then. Windies scored 360 runs in their 50 overs and
bowled out for Srilanka for 169.