Cricket World Cup 1996

Hosts

The competition was played in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India hosted 17 matches at 17 venues, Pakistan hosted 16 matches at six venues and four matches were played at three Sri Lankan venues Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka following the bombing of Central Bank in Colombo by the Tamil Tigers in January 1996. After extensive negotiations, the ICC ruled that Sri Lanka would be awarded both games on forfeit.

Sri Lanka

Two matches were scheduled to be played down at the Premadasa, but neither took place as Australia and the West Indies declined to play in Sri Lanka.

Venues	Cities	Capacity	Matches
R. Premadasa Stadium	Colombo	14,000	0*
Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground	Colombo	10,000	1
Asgiriya Stadium	Kandy	10,300	1

Teams

All the Test-playing nations participated in the competition, including Zimbabwe, who became the ninth Test-status member of the ICC following the last World Cup. The three Associate teams (previously one) to qualify through the 1994 ICC Trophy – the United Arab Emirates, Kenya and the Netherlands – also made their World Cup debuts in 1996. The Netherlands lost all of their five matches, including a defeat to the UAE, while Kenya recorded a surprise victory over the West Indies in Pune.

Full Members
Australia	England	India
New Zealand	Pakistan	South Africa
Sri Lanka	West Indies	Zimbabwe
Associate Members
Kenya	Netherlands	United Arab Emirates

Summary

The Sri Lankans, coached by Dav Whatmore and captained by Arjuna Ranatunga, used Man of the Series Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana as opening batsmen to take advantage of the fielding restrictions during the first 15 overs of each innings. At a time when 50 or 60 runs in the first 15 overs was considered adequate, Sri Lanka scored 117 runs in those overs against India, 123 against Kenya, 121 against England in the quarter-final and 86 against India in the semi-final. Against Kenya, Sri Lanka made 398 for 5, a new record for the highest team score in a One Day International that stood until April 2006. Gary Kirsten scored 188 not out against United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi, Pakistan, setting a record for the highest individual score in a World Cup match which stood until 2015. Sri Lanka won the first semi-final over India at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, in front of a crowd unofficially estimated at 110,000. After they had lost both openers cheaply, Sri Lanka launched a counter-attack, led by Aravinda de Silva, to post a strong total of 251 for the loss of 8 wickets. India began their chase promisingly but after the loss of Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian batting order collapsed. After India had slumped to 120 for 8 in the 35th over, sections of the crowd began to throw fruit and plastic bottles onto the field. The players left the field for 20 minutes in an attempt to quieten the crowd. When the players returned for play, more bottles were thrown onto the field and fires were lit in the stand. Match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka, the first default ever in a Test or One Day International. In the second semi-final in Mohali, Australia recovered from 15/4 to reach 207/8 from their 50 overs. The West Indians had reached 165/2 in the 42nd over before losing their last eight wickets for 37 runs in 51 balls. Sri Lanka won the toss in the final and sent Australia in to bat despite the team batting first having won all five previous World Cup finals. Mark Taylor top scored with 74 in Australia's total of 241/7. Sri Lanka won the match in the 47th over with Aravinda de Silva following his 3 for 42 with an unbeaten 107 to win the Player of the Match award. It was the first time a tournament host or co-host had won the cricket World Cup. A warm-up match was played between South Africa and Pakistan on 8 February 1996 in which South Africa defeated Pakistan by 65 runs.

Group A

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat. No toss. , Australia forfeited the match due to safety concerns, and were in Mumbai at the time of the match. India won the toss and elected to field. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat. Kenya won the toss and elected to field. No toss. , West Indies forfeited the match due to safety concerns. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field. , This game was originally scheduled to be played on 25 February; as the game started but due to rain it was abandoned after 15.5 overs of Zimbabwe's innings. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. West Indies won the toss and elected to field. , Kenya won their first ODI match. , This was the first time the West Indies lost an ODI to an ICC Associate. , This was the fourth win in ODI history by an ICC Associate (all in World Cups, SL vs Ind 1979, Zim vs Aus 1983 and Zim vs Eng 1992). Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field. , Manoj Prabhakar played his last ODI game. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field. Kenya won the toss and elected to field. , Sri Lanka's total of 398/5 surpassed England's 363/7 against Pakistan in 1992 as the highest score in all ODIs. The record stood until 12 March 2006, when both Australia and South Africa broke it in the same match. It remained a World Cup record until the 2007 tournament, when India scored 413/5 against Bermuda.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	NR	Pts	NRR
1	Sri Lanka	5	5	0	0	0	10	1.607
2	Australia	5	3	2	0	0	6	0.903
3	India	5	3	2	0	0	6	0.452
4	West Indies	5	2	3	0	0	4	−0.134
5	Zimbabwe	5	1	4	0	0	2	−0.939
6	Kenya	5	1	4	0	0	2	−1.007

16 February Scorecard

Zimbabwe 151/9 (50 overs)	v	West Indies155/4 (29.3 overs)
Grant Flower 31 (54) Curtly Ambrose 3/28 (10 overs)	Sherwin Campbell 47 (88) Paul Strang 4/40 (7.3 overs)

West Indies won by 6 wickets Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad Umpires: Steve Dunne (NZ) and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Ind) Player of the match: Curtly Ambrose (WI)

17 February Scorecard

Sri Lanka

v

Australia

Sri Lanka won by a walkover R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Cyril Mitchley (SA) and Mahboob Shah (Pak)

18 February Scorecard

Kenya 199/6 (50 overs)	v	India203/3 (41.5 overs)
Steve Tikolo 65 (83) Anil Kumble 3/28 (10 overs)	Sachin Tendulkar 127* (138) Steve Tikolo 1/26 (3 overs)

India won by 7 wickets Barabati Stadium, Cuttack Umpires: K. T. Francis (SL) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

21 February Scorecard

Zimbabwe 228/6 (50 overs)	v	Sri Lanka229/4 (37 overs)
Alistair Campbell 75 (102) Chaminda Vaas 2/30 (10 overs)	Aravinda de Silva 91 (86) Heath Streak 3/60 (10 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Umpires: Steve Dunne (NZ) and Mahboob Shah (Pak) Player of the match: Aravinda de Silva (SL)

21 February Scorecard

West Indies 173 (50 overs)	v	India174/5 (39.4 overs)
Richie Richardson 47 (70) Anil Kumble 3/35 (10 overs)	Sachin Tendulkar 70 (91) Roger Harper 2/34 (9 overs)

India won by 5 wickets Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior Umpires: Khizer Hayat (Pak) and Ian Robinson (Zim) Player of the match: Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

23 February Scorecard

Australia 304/7 (50 overs)	v	Kenya207/7 (50 overs)
Mark Waugh 130 (128) Rajab Ali 3/45 (10 overs)	Kennedy Otieno 85 (137) Paul Reiffel 2/18 (7 overs)

Australia won by 97 runs Indira Priyadarshini Stadium, Visakhapatnam Umpires: Cyril Mitchley (SA) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Mark Waugh (Aus)

26 February Scorecard

Sri Lanka

v

West Indies

Group B

Match was delayed from 15th February due to rain and a flooded ground. , Gary Kirsten's unbeaten 188 was the highest ever individual score in a World Cup match, surpassing Viv Richards' 181* against Sri Lanka in 1987, and the second-highest ODI score of all time, one short of Richards' all-time ODI record score of 189. , South Africa's score of 321/2 was their highest in ODIs. , The United Arab Emirates' ninth-wicket partnership of 80* between Arshad Laeeq and Shaukat Dukanwala was the second-highest of all time. This was the Netherlands' first ODI match. , Peter Cantrell, Flavian Aponso, Steven Lubbers, Roland Lefebvre, Tim de Leede, Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk, Marcelis Schewe, Bastiaan Zuiderent, Eric Gouka and Paul-Jan Bakker (Ned) all made their ODI debut. , At 47 years and 240 days, Nolan Clarke (Ned) became the oldest player to make his ODI debut. , Stephen Fleming (NZ) took his only ODI wicket. Match reduced to 47 overs a side due to heavy fog at the start of the match. Bucknor replaced Ian Robinson as an umpire in this match after protests by Pakistan. This was the first ever official ODI between two ICC Associate teams. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. , Peter Cantrell, Flavian Aponso, Marcelis Schewe, Eric Gouka, Steven Lubbers and Paul-Jan Bakker (all Ned) played their final ODI match. , Nolan Clarke (Ned), aged 47 years and 257 days, played his final ODI match, the oldest player to do so.

Quarter-finals

England won the toss and elected to bat first. , Richard Illingworth played his final ODI game. India won the toss and elected to bat first. , Pakistan was fined 1 over for a slow over rate. , This was the last ODI which Javed Miandad played. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.

Semi-finals

India won the toss and elected to field. , The match was awarded to Sri Lanka by match referee Clive Lloyd when play could not be continued due to the rioting crowd. , Sri Lanka qualified for the final for first time. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. , Australia qualified for the final for third time after 1975 and 1987. , This was the last ODI played by Richie Richardson.

Final

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.