1999 Cricket World Cup

Home again, with a new ball

Sixteen years after its last visit, the World Cup returned to England in May and June 1999, with a few matches staged in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Netherlands. It was the first played for the permanent trophy that is still presented today, and it used a white Duke ball that swung more than anyone had expected, especially under the grey skies of an English May.

Twelve teams were split into two groups of six. The new idea was the second round. Instead of quarter-finals, the top three from each group entered a Super Six, carrying forward the points they had earned against the other qualifiers and playing the three from the other group. The top four went to the semi-finals. It sounded like a detail, and it turned out to decide who won the World Cup.

Upsets in the groups

The first round produced more surprises than any before it. Zimbabwe beat India by three runs in Leicester, with Henry Olonga taking India's last three wickets in a single over, and then beat South Africa at Chelmsford. That second win carried them into the Super Six, with points in hand. Bangladesh, playing their first World Cup, beat Pakistan by 62 runs at Northampton, a result that helped them win Test status a year later.

England, the hosts, went out. Their defeat by India at Edgbaston, in a match spread over two days by rain, left them level on points with India and Zimbabwe, and they missed the Super Six on run rate. The hosts were out before the second round had begun, with more than three weeks of their own tournament still to play.

Three hundred and eighteen at Taunton

The batting of the group stage belonged to India. At Taunton, against Sri Lanka, Sourav Ganguly made 183 from 158 balls and Rahul Dravid 145, and together they put on 318 for the second wicket, at the time the highest partnership in one-day international cricket. India made 373 for six and won by 157 runs. Dravid finished as the tournament's leading run-scorer, with 461.

The Super Six also staged the tournament's most charged match. India and Pakistan met at Old Trafford while their armies were fighting in Kargil, in Kashmir, and the game was played under heavy security. India won by 47 runs, with Venkatesh Prasad taking five wickets. But India had carried no points into the Super Six, and they went out anyway. Zimbabwe, carrying the points from their wins over India and South Africa, finished fifth, one place short of the semi-finals, while Kenya and Scotland had lost every game in the first round.

Australia on the brink

Australia started badly. They beat Scotland, then lost to New Zealand and to Pakistan, and after three games they were close to elimination. Steve Waugh's side needed to win every match from then on, and it did. They beat Bangladesh and West Indies to go through, and in the Super Six they beat India and Zimbabwe. Glenn McGrath took five wickets for 14 against West Indies, Shane Warne found his rhythm again after a poor start, and Adam Gilchrist, in his first World Cup, began to attack from the top of the order.

Headingley

Australia's last Super Six match, against South Africa at Headingley on 13 June, was effectively a knockout. South Africa made 271, with Herschelle Gibbs scoring a hundred. Australia were 48 for three when their captain came in. On 56, Waugh clipped the ball to midwicket, where Gibbs caught it and, in his hurry to celebrate, threw it up before he had control of it. The ball fell to the ground and Waugh was not out. He made 120 not out and Australia won with two balls to spare. Waugh is often quoted as telling Gibbs that he had just dropped the World Cup; he has said since that the words were not quite those, but the point stood. The win lifted Australia above South Africa in the Super Six table.

Edgbaston

The same two teams met in the semi-final at Edgbaston four days later. Shaun Pollock took five wickets and Allan Donald four, and Australia were bowled out for 213, with Michael Bevan making 65 and Waugh 56. South Africa were 48 for none, then Warne came on and took three wickets in eight balls. Jacques Kallis made 53 and Jonty Rhodes 43, but Warne finished with four for 29 and South Africa slid.

It came down to Lance Klusener, the player of the tournament, who had spent six weeks hitting the ball harder than anyone. With one wicket left, South Africa needed nine from the last over, bowled by Damien Fleming. Klusener hit the first two balls for four. With the scores level and four balls left, Donald survived a near run-out off the third. Off the fourth, Klusener mistimed the ball towards mid-off and set off. Donald, watching the ball, did not, dropped his bat, and was run out by a distance. The match was tied at 213, and because Australia had finished above South Africa in the Super Six, it was Australia who went through. It is still the most famous finish in one-day cricket.

A final that lasted an afternoon

Pakistan had reached the final in style, beating New Zealand by nine wickets at Old Trafford, with Saeed Anwar making 113 not out and Shoaib Akhtar bowling fast enough to be named player of the match. The final at Lord's on 20 June was nothing like that. Wasim Akram chose to bat, and Pakistan were bowled out for 132 in 39 overs. Warne took four for 33 and was player of the match again. Gilchrist then hit 54 from 36 balls, and Australia won by eight wickets with nearly thirty overs to spare.

Warne and New Zealand's Geoff Allott shared the lead in wickets with 20 each. For Australia it was a second title and the first of three in a row, and the side that had been close to going out in the first week would not lose another World Cup match until 2011. The story continues with the 2003 World Cup in Africa.