Three
months after the death of legendary cricket wordsmith Neville Cardus,
who vividly portrayed the romance of the traditional game, the
International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1975 held the first World Cup --
an event that in subsequent years catalysed mind-boggling changes in the
22- yard game, multiplying the thrill, money and appeal.
But 40
years back, it was virtually an experimental tournament, with most
cricket lovers, including majority of the eight participating teams --
all babes in the new format, ignorant of the rules -- save England,
which regularly staged one-day games.
The 15 matches played in a
60-over format -- in conventional whites and with the red cherry at six
venues -- June 7-21, nevertheless, were a roaring success, both in terms
of spectator support as well as entertainment.
The thrill that one-day cricket could provide was amply evident in Pakistan's Group A clash against the West Indies.
Pakistan posted a challenging score of 266, courtesy three half-centuries from Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Wasim Raja.
In
reply, the West Indies slipped to 99 for five, with Roy Fredericks,
Gordon Greenidge, Alvin Kallicharran, Vivian Richards and Rohan Kanhai
back in the pavilion.
Pakistan pacer Sarfaraz Nawaz (4/44)
exploited the moisture to the full to create havoc in the West Indies
batting line up. The great Javed Miandad, making his ODI debut, bowled
his slow spin to get rid of the rival skipper Clive Lloyd.
At 203
for nine in the 46th over, it seemed all was over for the Caribbean
outfit. But the last-wicket pair of wicketkeeper Deryck Murray and pacer
Andy Roberts added 64 runs to put the West Indies in the semifinal with
two balls to spare and send Pakistan packing.
However, to
everybody's surprise, Murray's cool and unbeaten 61 in the most trying
of circumstances failed to earn him the Man of the Match award, with the
honour going to Sarfaraz.
It is said the adjudicator of the award Tom Graveney had left the field before the match ended and thus missed Murray's batting.
India,
then a novice in limited-over cricket, started off the tournament -
then called the Prudential Cup after its sponsors Prudential Assurance
Company - pathetically.
In the inaugural match, England batsmen beat Indian bowlers to pulp to record the first 300-plus score (334/4) in an ODI.
Dennis
Amiss (137) notched up the maiden hundred of the big tournament. Chris
Old scored the fastest 50 which came off only 30 balls.
In reply, India made a leisurely 132 for three after batting the full quota of 60 overs at a dismal run rate of 2.2.
Legendary
opener Sunil Gavaskar played one of the slowest ODI knocks, as he
carried his bat through the innings to score an unbelievable 36 (174
balls, 1 four).
To this day, the great batsman has failed to
give a proper explanation for his excruciatingly slow effort, except
attributing it to inexperience.
But if the Indians were niggardly in scoring quick runs, they also showed how miserly they could be in conceding them.
In
the match against East Africa -- India's only victory in the tournament
-- left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi came up with the most economic
spell of ODI cricket (12-8-6-1), even as the S. Venkatraghavan-led side
made an exit from the group stage.
For long, India's 10-wicket win against East Africa remained the most emphatic World Cup victory.
Australia's
left-arm pacer Gary Gilmour emerged as a star, finishing with an
enviable six for 14 in the semi-final against England, and capping it
with an impressive five for 48 effort in the June 21 final that went
down to the wire.
Drama started early in the summit clash after the West Indies were put in to bat.
Opener
Fredericks hammered a superb six off quick bowler Denis Lillee. The
Caribbean supporters broke into applause, but the umpire declared him
out hit wicket.
The left-hander had failed to keep his balance and dislodged the bails with his foot.
The
West Indies were in a spot of bother at 50 for three, but Llyod came up
with a superb 102 to propel his side to 291 for eight.
The formidable Australians took up the chase, but the Caribbeans fielded superbly and effected four run outs.
Losing
wickets regularly, Australia seemed on the brink of defeat at 233 for
nine, till a valiant rearguard action from two famous Australian pacers
Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson changed the complexion of the game.
But as the pair appeared cruising towards victory, Thomson scooped a ball for Fredericks to take the catch.
To
Australia's relief, the umpire declared it a 'no ball'. As the duo
started off, hesitatingly, for a single, Fredericks threw the ball
towards the wicket attempting another run out.
But the leather
missed the stumps and it simply vanished into the hordes of West Indies
supporters who had invaded the field hoping for a West Indies victory.
With
the ball unavailable, Lillee and Thompson made merry, taking one run
after another. But the umpire awarded only two runs when things calmed
down.
The match restarted after the spectators were removed from
the ground and the West Indies finally won the match by 17 runs to lift
the maiden World Cup trophy.
(Kushal Chakraborty is a freelancer. He can be contacted at [email protected])
