World Cup 1999: Teams, summary, winner, most runs and wickets

The 1999 World Cup was the first big commercial hit. The cricket was exuberant. There was drama. The money was pouring in, and it had everyone extremely excited. It was the first real sign that there were huge opportunities for the tournament in the days ahead.

The tournament itself was won by Australia – and rightly so, they were the best team in the tournament. They saw off Pakistan in the final all too comfortable. Shane Warne’s 4/33 helped bundle out Pakistan for a paltry 132 in just 39 overs. For Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, that total posed little threat. They put on 75 for the opening wicket, and Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann came over to finish things off.

There was plenty of drama before that, however. There was that classic semi-final between Australia and South Africa. The match was tied, with South Africa conceding a dominant position, and losing their heads in the final with a horrible mix-up and run-out between Lance Klusener. The match was tied, but Australia went through on the head-to-head record. It was around this time people started labelling South Africa with the ‘c’ word – chokers.

To this day, it remains one of the finest tournaments in World Cup history.

Semi-final 1, Old Trafford, Manchester, June 16: New Zealand 241/7 in 50 overs (Twose 46, Cairns 44, Fleming 41; Akhtar 3/55, Razzaq 2/28) lost to Pakistan 241/1 in 47.3 overs (Anwar 113*, Wasti 84; Cairns 1/33) by 9 wickets. Man of the Match: Shoaib Akhtar.

Semi-final 2, Edgbaston, Birmingham, June 17: Australia 213 in 50 overs (Steve Waugh 56, Bevan 65; Pollock 5/36; Donald 4/32) tied with South Africa 213 in 49.4 overs (Kallis 53, Rhodes 43; Warne 4/29). Australia went through on head-to-head record. Man of the Match: Shane Warne.

Final, Lord’s, June 20: Pakistan 132 in 39 overs (Ijaz Ahmed 22; Warne 4/33, McGrath 2/13) lost to Australia 133/2 in 20.1 overs (Mark Waugh 37, Gilchrist 54; Mushtaq 1/21) by 8 wickets. Man of the Match: Shane Warne. Man of the Series: Lance Klusener.

Most runs: Rahul Dravid (India) – 461 runs, 8 matches
Most wickets: Geoff Allott (New Zealand) – 20 wickets, 9 matches