Recap: 1987 Cricket World Cup

In 1987, it was the first time that the Cricket World Cup moved out of England and it was co-hosted by India & Pakistan. Again the 8 participating teams were divided into two groups. But unlike the previous two editions, no new team made its debut in this World Cup.

Group A comprised of India, Australia, New Zealand & Zimbabwe while Group B comprised of Pakistan, England, West Indies & Sri Lanka.

India and Australia from Group A, and Pakistan and England from Group B qualified for the semi-finals. Everyone, especially in the Indian sub-continent, expected it to be an India-Pakistan affair in the finals. However, just like in the previous edition, it was not to be as Australia defeated Pakistan by 18 runs & England defeated India by 35 runs in the semi-finals.

This was the first time in the history of the world cup that the West Indies was not involved in the finals of the tournament. In fact, it was also the first time in the history of the tournament that the West Indies had failed to make it to the knockout stage.

The finals saw Australia defeat England by 7 runs to lift their first world cup trophy. Batting first, Australia set England a target of 254 runs. England in response could only manage 246.

Some of the key highlights from the tournament are mentioned below.

Batting performances:

360/4 by West Indies against Sri Lanka was the highest team total in the 1987 World Cup.

471 runs scored by Graham Gooch of England were the most number of runs scored by a player in the 1987 World Cup.

181 scored by Viv Richards against Sri Lanka was the highest individual score by a player in the tournament.

11 centuries were scored in the 1987 World Cup. These were scored by Viv Richards of West Indies (181), Dave Houghton of Zimbabwe (142), Geoff Marsh of Australia (126* & 110), Graham Gooch of England (115), Rameez Raza of Pakistan (113), Richie Richardson of West Indies (110), Desmond Haynes of West Indies (105), Sunil Gavaskar of India (103*), Javed Miandad of Pakistan (103) & Saleem Malik of Pakistan (100).

5 half-centuries scored by David Boon of Australia were the most number of half-centuries scored by a player in the 1987 World Cup.

Bowling performances:

18 wickets taken by Craig McDermott of Australia were the most number of wickets taken by a player in the 1987 World Cup.

5/44 by Craig McDermott against Pakistan was the best bowling performance by a player in the 1987 Cricket World Cup. It is also the only five-wicket haul by a player in the 1987 World Cup.

Wicketkeeping performances:

11 dismissals by Kiran More of India & by Greg Dyer of Australia each were the most number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in the 1987 World Cup.

4 dismissals by Kiran More against Zimbabwe & by Greg Dyer against Pakistan were the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in an innings in the 1987 World Cup.