1979 Cricket World Cup

Prudential Cup '79
Dates9 June – 23 June 1979
Administrator(s)International Cricket Council
Cricket formatOne Day International
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and Knockout
Host(s)England
Champions West Indies (2nd title)
Runners-up England
Participants8
Matches15
Attendance132,000 (8,800 per match)
Most runsCricket West Indies Gordon Greenidge (253)
Most wicketsEngland Mike Hendrick (10)
1975
1983

The 1979 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup '79) was the second edition of the Cricket World Cup. Organised by the International Cricket Conference, it was held in England from 9 to 23 June 1979.

The tournament was once again sponsored by the Prudential Assurance Company and had eight teams participating in the tournament with the only change being Canada who qualified with Sri Lanka in the qualifier for the tournament. The format remained the same with two teams qualifying from each group with the final once again being at Lord's.

England joined first-time semi-finalists Pakistan as the qualifiers from Group A, while the West Indies finished top of Group B ahead of New Zealand. After the West Indies and England both won their semi-finals over Pakistan and New Zealand respectively, they met in the final at Lord's with the West Indies defending their title from four years earlier with a 92 run victory. West Indian batsman, Gordon Greenidge ended the tournament as the leading run scorer with 253 runs from four matches with English player Mike Hendrick ending up as the leading wicket taker with ten wickets.

Format

The eight teams at the tournament were split into two groups of four teams, with each team playing the others in their group in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group then advance to the semi-finals to play in a single-elimination tournament.

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 1979 tournament saw the first qualifiers in a World Cup. The 1979 ICC Trophy was held during late May and early June at various grounds in the English Midlands, with the two finalists qualifying for the World Cup where they joined the six Test nations who qualified automatically. Sri Lanka and Canada qualified after defeating Denmark and Bermuda respectively in the semi-finals.

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 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 Cricket Ground
Capacity: 15,350 Capacity: 14,000

Squads

Group stage

Summary

The opening round of matches took place on 9 June with four matches being played. England took on Australia at Lord's and after the home team elected to field first, restricted the Australians to 97 for one with fine fielding and bowling. After Andrew Hilditch dragged his second ball after lunch into the stumps, the Australians would be restricted for 159 which included four run-outs. The run-chase saw Mike Brearley and Graham Gooch control the innings and led England to a six wicket victory.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L T NR Pts RR
1  England 3 3 0 0 0 12 3.066
2  Pakistan 3 2 1 0 0 8 3.602
3  Australia 3 1 2 0 0 4 3.164
4  Canada 3 0 3 0 0 0 1.606
Source: ESPNcricinfo
9 June 1979
Scorecard
Australia 
159/9 (60 overs)
v
 England
160/4 (47.1 overs)

9 June 1979
Scorecard
Canada 
139/9 (60 overs)
v
 Pakistan
140/2 (40.1 overs)

13–14 June 1979
Scorecard
Pakistan 
286/7 (60 overs)
v
 Australia
197 (57.1 overs)

13–14 June 1979
Scorecard
Canada 
45 (40.3 overs)
v
 England
46/2 (13.5 overs)

16 June 1979
Scorecard
Canada 
105 (33.2 overs)
v
 Australia
106/3 (26 overs)

16 June 1979
Scorecard
England 
165/9 (60 overs)
v
 Pakistan
151 (56 overs)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L T NR Pts RR
1  West Indies 3 2 0 0 1 10 3.928
2  New Zealand 3 2 1 0 0 8 3.553
3  Sri Lanka 3 1 1 0 1 6 3.558
4  India 3 0 3 0 0 0 3.128
Source: ESPNcricinfo
9 June 1979
Scorecard
India 
190 (53.1 overs)
v
 West Indies
194/1 (51.3 overs)

9 June 1979
Scorecard
Sri Lanka 
189 (56.5 overs)
v
 New Zealand
190/1 (47.4 overs)


13 June 1979
Scorecard
India 
182 (55.5 overs)
v
 New Zealand
183/2 (57 overs)

16–18 June 1979
Scorecard
Sri Lanka 
238/5 (60 overs)
v
 India
191 (54.1 overs)

16 June 1979
Scorecard
West Indies 
244/7 (60 overs)
v
 New Zealand
212/9 (60 overs)

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
20 June – Old Trafford, Manchester
 
 
 England221/8
 
23 June – Lord's, London
 
 New Zealand212/9
 
 England194
 
20 June – The Oval, London
 
 West Indies286/9
 
 West Indies293/6
 
 
 Pakistan250
 

Semi-finals

In a very close semi-final 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 out for 250 in 56.2 overs in the high-scoring semi-final, sending the West Indies to the final.

20 June 1979
Scorecard
West Indies 
293/6 (60 overs)
v
 Pakistan
250 (56.2 overs)

20 June 1979
Scorecard
England 
221/8 (60 overs)
v
 New Zealand
212/9 (60 overs)

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 Derek Randall triggered a batting collapse in which England lost their last eight wickets for 11 runs to finish 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 (51 overs)

Statistics

Gordon Greenidge ended the tournament as the leading run scorer with 253 runs coming from his four games. Second was fellow West Indian player, Viv Richards who finished with 217 runs from four games which included the highest individual score of the tournament of 138 in the final. Graham Gooch from England rounded out the top three. Mike Hendrick from England was the leading wicket taker for the tournament with ten wickets from five matches with a three-way tie for second place with Brian McKechnie (New Zealand), Asif Iqbal (Pakistan) and Chris Old each taking nine wickets for the tournament.

Most runs

Player Team Mat Inns Runs Ave SR HS 100 50 4s 6s
Gordon Greenidge  West Indies 4 4 253 84.33 62.31 106* 1 2 17 3
Viv Richards  West Indies 4 4 217 108.50 74.06 138* 1 0 13+ 4+
Graham Gooch  England 5 5 210 52.50 63.82 71 0 2 18 4
Glenn Turner  New Zealand 4 4 176 88.00 56.05 83* 0 1 12+ 0+
John Wright  New Zealand 4 4 166 41.50 50.00 69 0 1 16+ 0+

Most wickets

Player Team Mat Inns Wkts Ave Econ BBI SR
Mike Hendrick  England 5 5 10 14.90 2.66 4/15 33.6
Brian McKechnie  New Zealand 4 4 9 15.66 3.07 3/24 30.5
Asif Iqbal  Pakistan 4 4 9 17.44 3.34 4/56 31.3
Chris Old  England 5 5 9 17.44 2.70 4/8 38.6
Michael Holding  West Indies 4 4 8 13.25 2.58 4/33 30.7

Attendance

The total attendance at the tournament was 132,000, including 25,000 at the final.


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