1987: When the Cricket World Cup was played outside England for the first time

It was in 1987 that the ODI World Cup was hosted outside England for the first time, in India and Pakistan. Once again, 8 teams were divided into 2 groups of 4. Group A comprised India, Australia, New Zealand Zimbabwe, while Group B consisted of Pakistan, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

It looked like the stars were aligning for an Indo-Pak final, as India and Australia from Group A, while Pakistan and England from Group B had qualified for the semifinals. However, Pakistan was thrown out by Australia and England beat India by 35 runs to set up a famous clash in the final.

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, West Indies had not made it to the finals. Not only that, it was also the first time that the Caribbean team didn’t even reach the knockout stage.

Australia went on to clinch their maiden World Cup victory, beating England by 7 runs in the finale. Batting first, the Aussies put up 253 runs on the board. England could only manage to score 246.

Some key highlights from the tournament:

Highest team total

West Indies scored 360 runs in a match against Sri Lanka, losing just 4 wickets

Most runs

England’s Graham Gooch finished with 471 runs in the tournament

Best innings

Sir Vivian Richards made 181 against Sri Lanka, which the highest individual score of that year’s World Cup

Total hundreds

The 1987 World Cup witnessed the making of 11 centuries. Sir Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Graham Gooch, Desmond Haynes, Javed Miandad, David Houghton, Rameez Raja, Richie Richardson, Salim Malik all scored one hundred each. Geoff Marsh ended with 2 tons to his name. On the other hand, David Boon registered 5 half-centuries in the tournament

Most wickets

Australian Craig McDermott scalped the most wickets – 18. His best bowling figures of 5-44 came against Pakistan