World Cup 1987: Teams, summary, winner, most runs and wickets

The 1987 World Cup witnessed at least three firsts: a new venue (India and Pakistan), a new sponsor (Reliance), and 50-over matches. However, the 1983 format and teams were both there. Australia won the first of their five World Cups, defeating England in the final by 7 runs – still the narrowest margin of victory in a Men’s World Cup final.

Group A was largely a two-way contest, with India and Australia beating each other once and winning everything else. New Zealand won both matches against Zimbabwe in the same group, one of them by 3 runs despite Dave Houghton (142) played arguably the greatest innings of the edition.

Pakistan won 5 of their matches in Group B, losing only to West Indies once. Unfortunately, England beat West Indies in both matches, which meant that the latter were eliminated. This, despite them thrashing Sri Lanka to score a world record 360/4, Viv Richards setting a new World Cup record of 181.

But Pakistan and India both lost their respective semi-finals, against Australia at Lahore and England at Bombay respectively, on successive days. Australia then lifted the trophy by beating England in front of a packed Eden Gardens crowd.

Semi-final 1, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, November 4: Australia 267/8 in 50 overs (Boon 65, Veletta 48, Waugh 32*, Marsh 31; Imran 3/36) beat Pakistan 249 in 49 overs (Miandad 70, Imran 58; McDermott 5/44, Reid 2/41) by 18 runs. Man of the Match: Craig McDermott.

Semi-final 2, Wankhede Stadium, Bombay, November 5: England 254/6 in 50 overs (Gooch 115, Gatting 56, Lamb 32*; Maninder 3/54, Kapil 2/38) beat India 219 in 45.3 overs (Azharuddin 64, Srikkanth 31, Kapil 30*; Hemmings 4/52, Foster 3/47) by 35 runs. Man of the Match: Graham Gooch.

Final, Eden Gardens, Calcutta, November 8: Australia 253/5 in 50 overs (Boon 75, Veletta 45*, Jones 33, Border 31; Hemmings 2/48) beat England 246/8 in 50 overs (Athey 58, Lamb 45, Gatting 41, Gooch 35; Waugh 2/37, Border 2/38) by 7 runs. Man of the Match: David Boon.

Most runs: Graham Gooch (England) – 471 runs, 8 matches
Most wickets: Craig McDermott (Australia) – 18 wickets, 8 matches