World Championship of Cricket

Infobox cricket tournament main
name = Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket


imagesize = 80px
caption =
administrator = Australian Cricket Board
cricket format = One Day International
tournament format = group stage followed by knockout rounds
first = 1985
last =
participants = cr|AUS
cr|ENG
cr|IND
cr|NZ
cr|PAK
cr|Sri Lanka
cr|West Indies
champions = cr|IND
most successful =
most runs = flagicon|IND Krishnamachari Srikkanth (238)
most wickets = flagicon|IND Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (10)

The Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket was a One Day International tournament held from 17 February to 10 March 1985 in Australia and won by India.

The tournament was part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of white settlement in Victoria. All of the then Test match playing teams participated with matches played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Sydney Cricket Ground. The tournament saw the first matches played under lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

India was the reigning World Cup holders having defeated the West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final, however the bookmakers had installed the West Indies as favourites.

Tournament format

Each team was required to name a 14-player squad for the tournament. Matches were played with coloured clothing, white balls, fielding restrictions and innings limited to 50 overs.

The seven teams were split into two qualifying groups. Each played a round robin with two points awarded for a win and one point for a draw or tie. Teams on equal points would be separated by run rate.

Cross-over semi finals would then be played with the winner from each group playing the runner-up from the other group. The losers played in the Plate Winners Final while the winners contested the Final.

Playing squads

Australia

Allan Border (captain), Terry Alderman, Peter Faulkner, Rodney Hogg, Kim Hughes, Dean Jones, Robbie Kerr, Geoff Lawson, Rod McCurdy, Craig McDermott, Simon O'Donnell, Wayne B. Phillips, Kepler Wessels, Graeme Wood.

England

David Gower (captain), Jonathan Agnew, Norman Cowans, Chris Cowdrey, Paul Downton, Phil Edmonds, Richard Ellison, Neil Foster, Graeme Fowler, Mike Gatting, Allan Lamb, Vic Marks, Martyn Moxon.

India

Sunil Gavaskar (captain), Mohinder Amarnath, Mohammad Azharuddin, Roger Binny, Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Chetan Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sadanand Viswanath.

New Zealand

Geoff Howarth (captain), John Bracewell, Lance Cairns, Ewen Chatfield, Jeremy Coney, Jeff Crowe, Martin Crowe, Richard Hadlee, Paul McEwan, John Reid, Ian Smith, Martin Snedden, John Wright

Pakistan

Javed Miandad (captain), Anil Dalpat, Azeem Hafeez, Imran Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Qasim Omar, Rameez Raja, Rashid Khan, Saleem Malik, Tahir Naqqash, Wasim Akram, Wasim Raja, Zaheer Abbas.

ri Lanka

Duleep Mendis (captain), Ashantha de Mel, Somachandra de Silva, Roy Dias, Vinothen John, Uvais Karnain, Ranjan Madugalle, Arjuna Ranatunga, Rumesh Ratnayake, Ravi Ratnayeke, Amal Silva.

West Indies

Clive Lloyd (captain), Winston Davis, Jeff Dujon, Joel Garner, Larry Gomes, Roger Harper, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Gus Logie, Malcolm Marshall, Thelston Payne, Viv Richards, Richie Richardson.

Tournament results

Group A

The tournament began with Australia and England playing the first ever match under lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia won the match by seven wickets, however neither of them would make the semi finals.

India quickly showed that it was on track to repeat its World Cup success with comfortable wins in each of its group matches, while Pakistan found a new hero in 18 year old left-arm fast bowler Wasim Akram who took 5 for 21 against Australia.

*Australia v England in Melbourne (day/night) - Sunday 17 February 1985
**England 8-214 (Allan Lamb 53, Geoff Lawson 3-31, Craig McDermott 3-39)
**Australia 3-215 (45.2 ov) (Robbie Kerr 87*, Dean Jones 78*, Vic Marks 1-33)
***Australia won by 7 wickets
*India v Pakistan in Melbourne (day/night) - Wednesday 20 February 1985
**Pakistan 183 (Qasim Omar 57, Roger Binny 4-35)
**India 4-184 (45.5 ov) (Mohammad Azharuddin 93*, Sunil Gavaskar 54, Imran Khan 3-27)
***India won by 6 wickets
*Australia v Pakistan in Melbourne (day) - Sunday 24 February 1985
**Pakistan 6-262 (Mohsin Khan 81, Mudassar Nazar 69, Simon O'Donnell 2-42)
**Australia 200 (Simon O'Donnell 74*, Wasim Akram 5-21)
***Pakistan won by 62 runs
*England v India in Sydney (day/night) - Tuesday 26 February 1985
**India 9-235 (Krishnamachari Srikkanth 57, Norman Cowans 3-59)
**England 149 (Martyn Moxon 48, Ravi Shastri 3-30, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan 3-39)
***India won by 86 runs
*England v Pakistan in Melbourne (day/night) - Saturday 2 March 1985
**Pakistan 8-213 (Mudassar Nazar 77, Richard Ellison 3-42)
**England 146 (Allan Lamb 81 (69), Tahir Naqqash 3-24)
***Pakistan won by 67 runs
*Australia v India in Melbourne (day) - Sunday 3 March 1985
**Australia 163 (Wayne B. Phillips 60, Roger Binny 3-27)
**India 2-165 (36.1 ov) (Krishnamachari Srikkanth 93*, Ravi Shastri 51)
***India won by 8 wickets

Group B

Group B was slightly farcical with the West Indies being comfortably the number one team in world cricket at the time and Sri Lanka being comfortably at the bottom of the list of Test nations.

The match between the West Indies and New Zealand was rained off which meant that whoever was more successful in beating up on Sri Lanka would top the group. While the West Indies easily accounted for Sri Lanka on the scoreboard, fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake forced both Richie Richardson and Larry Gomes to retire with searing bouncers.

*New Zealand v West Indies in Sydney (day/night) - Tuesday 19, Thursday 21 February 1985
**New Zealand 2-57 (18.4 ov)
***No result (no play possible on 19 Feb, only 18.4 overs possible on reserve day)
*New Zealand v Sri Lanka in Melbourne (day/night) - Saturday 23 February 1985
**New Zealand 223 (John Reid 62, Vinothen John 3-29, Rumesh Ratnayake 3-40)
**Sri Lanka 172 (Arjuna Ranatunga 34, Jeremy Coney 4-46)
***New Zealand won by 51 runs
*Sri Lanka v West Indies in Melbourne (day/night) - Wednesday 27 February 1985
**Sri Lanka 7-135 (Ravi Ratnayeke 50, Viv Richards 3-27)
**West Indies 2-136 (Desmond Haynes 36, Rumesh Ratnayake 1-29)
***West Indies won by 8 wickets

emi Finals

After the group stages, the expected outcome was that 1983 World Cup finalists India and the West Indies would meet again in the final of the World Championship. India held up their end of the bargain by beating New Zealand in the first semi final, however Pakistan produced the one major upset of the tournament to beat the West Indies.

*India v New Zealand in Sydney (day/night) - Tuesday 5 March 1985
**New Zealand 206 (John Reid 55, Madan Lal 4-37, Ravi Shastri 3-31)
**India 3-207 (43.3 ov) (Dilip Vengsarkar 63*, Ravi Shastri 53, Lance Cairns 1-35)
***India won by 7 wickets
*West Indies v Pakistan in Melbourne (day/night) - Wednesday 6 March 1985
**West Indies 159 (Roger Harper 25*, Mudassar Nazar 5-28, Tahir Naqqash 3-23)
**Pakistan 3-160 (46 ov) (Rameez Raja 60, Joel Garner 1-19)
***Pakistan won by 7 wickets

Plate Winners Final

The third place play-off in this tournament was known as the Plate Winners Final and the West Indies were indeed awarded a plate for winning the match. Geoff Howarth, in one of his last acts as New Zealand captain, attempted to defend his team's small total by opening the bowling with off-spinner John Bracewell. The ploy was proving successful until Viv Richards decided to hit Bracewell out of the attack.

*New Zealand v West Indies in Sydney (day) - Saturday 9 March 1985
**New Zealand 9-138 (Jeremy Coney 35, Joel Garner 3-29)
**West Indies 4-139 (37.2 ov) (Viv Richards 51, Richard Hadlee 3-23)
***West Indies won by 6 wickets

Final

India got on top early in the final with Kapil Dev reducing Pakistan to 4 for 33 before Javed Miandad and Imran Khan began a rescue act. 17-year-old leg spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had been a revelation during the tournament and produced another superb spell in the final. Pakistan's eventual total of 9 for 176 constituted a good recovery.

Indian openers Ravi Shastri and Krishnamachari Srikkanth each had wonderful tournaments and their century opening stand did most of the work for their strong batting line-up. Each were rewarded at the end of the match with Srikkanth winning the Player of the Match award and Shastri being named the the player of the tournament, or as it was known, the Champion of Champions. He was awarded his prize of an Audi motorcar, valued at the then princely sum of $A35 000 and immediately drove it around the MCG with his entire team sitting either in or on the car.

*India v Pakistan at Melbourne (day/night) - Sunday 10 March 1985
**Pakistan 9-176 (Javed Miandad 48, Kapil Dev 3-23, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan 3-35)
**India 2-177 (47.1 ov) (Krishnamachari Srikkanth 67, Ravi Shastri 63*, Imran Khan 1-28)
***India won by 8 wickets

This was the only instance of the World Championship of Cricket.

External links

* [http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1984-85/OD_TOURNEYS/WCC/ World Championship of Cricket scorecards on Cricinfo]