1979 TOURNAMENT
Four years later (1975 - first World Cup) the second World
Cup was played again in England. For the first time, the
'junior' counties played their own qualifying tournament, a
process which saw Sri Lanka and Canada progress to the World
Cup proper. The tournament (which was conducted along the
same lines as in 1975) was played soon after the 'peace'
agreement between the Establishment game and Kerry Packer's
breakaway World Series Cricket: things were still rather
confused, and West Indies and Pakistan included all their
Packer players, while England and Australia did not.
The inexperienced Australian side did not make the
semi- finals, but England did: once there, they beat New
Zealand in a close fought match by nine runs to reach the
final. Their opponents were West Indies, who overcame
Pakistan in the other semi-final despite an excellent stand
of 166 between stylish pair of Majid Jahangir Khan and
Zaheer Abbas.
A wonderful innings from Vivian Richards, then at the
height of his considerable powers, lit up the 1979 final. He
scored 138 not out, hitting 11 fours and three sixes, the
last of which was an extraordinary shot off a well-pitched-
up delivery which sent the final ball of the innings high
over square into the Mound Stand. Even Richards, though, was
briefly upstaged by a whirlwind innings from noted hitter
Collis King, who blasted a rapid 86. King and Richards put
on 139 in 77 minutes.
In reply, England's openers Brearley and Boycott laid a
solid foundation with a stand of 129. But their sedate rate
of scoring put pressure on the later batsmen, who caved in
against the fast, accurate bowling of Croft and Garner. The
latter, a giant at 6ft 8ins, ended the match with a spell of
five wickets for four runs in 11 balls: England were shot
out for 194, leaving West Indies winners once again, this
time by comfortable margin of 92 runs.
(Source: Wisden Cricket Monthly, February 1992)
Contributed by Bhanu Kapoor (kapoor@hc.ti.com)
