Cricket World Cup 1999

Format

It featured 12 teams, playing a total of 42 matches. In the group stage, the teams were divided into two groups of six; each team played all the others in their group once. The top three teams from each group advanced to the Super Sixes, a new concept for the 1999 World Cup; each team carried forward the points from the games against the other qualifiers from their group and then played each of the qualifiers from the other group (in other words, each qualifier from Group A played each qualifier from Group B and vice versa). The top four teams in the Super Sixes advanced to the semi-finals.

Qualification

The 1999 World Cup featured 12 teams, which was the same as the previous edition in 1996. The hosts England and the eight other test nations earned automatic qualification to the World Cup. The remaining three spots were decided at the 1997 ICC Trophy in Malaysia. 22 nations competed in the 1997 edition of the ICC Trophy. After going through two group stages, the semi-finals saw Kenya and Bangladesh qualify through to the World Cup. Scotland would be the third nation to qualify as they defeated Ireland in the third-place playoff.

Team	Method of qualification	Finals appearances	Last appearance	Previous best performance	Group
England	Hosts	7th	1996	Runners-up (1979, 1987, 1992)	A
Australia	Full member	7th	1996	Champions (1987)	B
India	7th	1996	Champions (1983)	A
New Zealand	7th	1996	Semi-finals (1975, 1979, 1992)	B
Pakistan	7th	1996	Champions (1992)	B
South Africa	3rd	1996	Semi-finals (1992)	A
Sri Lanka	7th	1996	Champions (1996)	A
West Indies	7th	1996	Champions (1975, 1979)	B
Zimbabwe	5th	1996	Group stage (All)	A
Bangladesh	1997 ICC Trophy winner	1st	—	Debut	B
Kenya	1997 ICC Trophy runner-up	2nd	1996	Group stage (1996)	A
Scotland	1997 ICC Trophy third place	1st	—	Debut	B

Outside England

Scotland played two of their Group B matches in their home country becoming the first associate nation to host games in a World Cup. One Group B match was played in Wales and Ireland respectively, while one Group A match was played in the Netherlands.

Venue	City	Capacity	Matches
Sophia Gardens	Cardiff, Wales	15,653	1
The Grange Club	Edinburgh, Scotland	3,000	2
Clontarf Cricket Club Ground	Dublin, Ireland	3,200	1
VRA Cricket Ground	Amstelveen, Netherlands	4,500	1
CardiffDublinEdinburgh Venues in Wales, Scotland and Ireland	Amstelveen Venues in the Netherlands

Pool A

England won the toss and elected to field. India won the toss and elected to bat. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field. , Jimmy Kamande (Ken) made his ODI debut. England won the toss and elected to field. India won the toss and elected to field. , India were fined four overs for a slow over rate in the first innings. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field. England won the toss and elected to field. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field. Kenya won the toss and elected to field. England won the toss and elected to field. South Africa won the toss and elected to field. , South Africa qualified for Super Sixes stage. Kenya eliminated. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat. , Sri Lanka were eliminated England won the toss and elected to field. , India and Zimbabwe qualified for Super Sixes stage of tournament and England were eliminated. Kenya won the toss and elected to field.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	NR	T	NRR	Pts	PCF
1	South Africa	5	4	1	0	0	0.86	8	2
2	India	5	3	2	0	0	1.28	6	0
3	Zimbabwe	5	3	2	0	0	0.02	6	4
4	England	5	3	2	0	0	−0.33	6	N/A
5	Sri Lanka	5	2	3	0	0	−0.81	4	N/A
6	Kenya	5	0	5	0	0	−1.20	0	N/A

14 May 1999 Scorecard

Sri Lanka 204 (48.4 overs)	v	England207/2 (46.5 overs)
Romesh Kaluwitharana 57 (66) Alan Mullally 4/37 (10 overs)	Alec Stewart 88 (146) Chaminda Vaas 1/27 (10 overs)

England won by 8 wickets Lord's, London Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (SA) and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Ind) Player of the match: Alec Stewart (Eng)

15 May 1999 Scorecard

India 253/5 (50 overs)	v	South Africa254/6 (47.2 overs)
Sourav Ganguly 97 (142) Lance Klusener 3/66 (10 overs)	Jacques Kallis 96 (128) Javagal Srinath 2/69 (10 overs)

South Africa won by 4 wickets New County Ground, Hove Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Jacques Kallis (SA)

15 May 1999 Scorecard

Kenya 229/7 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe231/5 (41 overs)
Alpesh Vadher 54 (90) Neil Johnson 4/42 (10 overs)	Neil Johnson 59 (70) Maurice Odumbe 2/39 (7 overs)

Zimbabwe won by 5 wickets County Ground, Taunton Umpires: Doug Cowie (NZ) and Javed Akhtar (Pak) Player of the match: Neil Johnson (Zim)

18 May 1999 Scorecard

Kenya 203 (49.4 overs)	v	England204/1 (39 overs)
Steve Tikolo 71 (141) Darren Gough 4/34 (10 overs)	Nasser Hussain 88* (127) Thomas Odoyo 1/65 (10 overs)

England won by 9 wickets St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury Umpires: K. T. Francis (SL) and Rudi Koertzen (SA) Player of the match: Steve Tikolo (Ken)

19 May 1999 Scorecard

Zimbabwe 252/9 (50 overs)	v	India249 (45 overs)
Andy Flower 68* (85) Javagal Srinath 2/35 (10 overs)	Sadagoppan Ramesh 55 (77) Henry Olonga 3/22 (4 overs)

Zimbabwe won by 3 runs Grace Road, Leicester Umpires: Dave Orchard (SA) and Peter Willey (Eng) Player of the match: Grant Flower (Zim)

19 May 1999 Scorecard

South Africa 199/9 (50 overs)	v	Sri Lanka110 (35.2 overs)
Lance Klusener 52* (45) Muttiah Muralitharan 3/25 (10 overs)	Roshan Mahanama 36 (71) Lance Klusener 3/21 (5.2 overs)

South Africa won by 89 runs County Ground, Northampton Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Steve Dunne (NZ) Player of the match: Lance Klusener (SA)

22 May 1999 Scorecard

South Africa 225/7 (50 overs)	v	England103 (41 overs)
Herschelle Gibbs 60 (99) Alan Mullally 2/28 (10 overs)	Neil Fairbrother 21 (44) Allan Donald 4/17 (8 overs)

South Africa won by 122 runs The Oval, London Umpires: Steve Dunne (NZ) and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Ind) Player of the match: Lance Klusener (SA)

Pool B

Australia won the toss and elected to field. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. , Ricardo Powell (WI) made his ODI debut. , Keith Arthurton played his final ODI game. New Zealand won the toss and elected to field. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Scotland won the toss and elected to field. , Ian Stanger (Sco) made his ODI debut. , Scotland conceded 59 extras, the joint highest in an ODI. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat. Australia won the toss and elected to field. Scotland won the toss and elected to field. West Indies won the toss and elected to field. Australia won the toss and elected to field. Scotland won the toss and elected to bat. , Greig Williamson (Sco) made his ODI debut. , Scotland were eliminated as a result of this match. New Zealand won the toss and elected to field. , Pakistan qualified for Super Six stage. Australia won the toss and elected to field. , Australia needed to score 111 within 47.2 overs to qualify for the Super Six stage of the tournament. Australia qualified for the Super Sixes and Bangladesh were eliminated. , Ridley Jacobs (WI) became the first cricketer to carry his bat in a World Cup match. , Phil Simmons played his last ODI game. , Brendon Julian played his last ODI game. Pakistan won the toss and elected to field. New Zealand won the toss and elected to field. , New Zealand needed to score 122 within 21.2 overs to qualify for Super Sixes stage. New Zealand qualified for Super Sixes and West Indies were eliminated.

Super Six

Teams who qualified for the Super Six stage only played against the teams from the other group; results against the other teams from the same group were carried forward to this stage. Results against the non-qualifying teams were therefore discarded at this point. As a result of League match losses against New Zealand and Pakistan, even though Australia finished second in their group, they progressed to the Super Six stage with no points carried forward (PCF). India faced similar circumstances, finishing 2nd in their group but carrying forward 0 points after losing to fellow qualifiers Zimbabwe and South Africa. During their super six clash, Pakistan and India were officially at war at the time of their match, the only time this has ever happened in the history of the sport. India won the toss and elected to field. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat. , Rain interrupted play . No play was possible on reserve day for rain. India won the toss and elected to bat. , This was the first and only time two nations played at the world cup while officially at war. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. , South Africa qualified for the semi-finals. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. , Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals. , Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) became the second bowler to take a hat-trick in a World Cup match. India won the toss and elected to bat. , New Zealand qualified for the semi-finals and India were eliminated. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. , Australia qualified for the semi-finals and Zimbabwe were eliminated.

Semi-finals

Australia progressed to the final because they finished higher in the Super Six table than South Africa due to having won their head to head Super Six match. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. , Pakistan qualified for the final for second time after 1992. South Africa won the toss and elected to field. , Australia progressed to the final because they finished higher in the Super Six table than South Africa due to having won their head to head Super Six match. , Australia qualified for the final for fourth time after 1975, 1987 and 1996.

Final

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. , Paul Reiffel (Aus) played his final international match.

Match balls

A new type of cricket ball, the white 'Duke', was introduced for the first time in the 1999 World Cup. British Cricket Balls Ltd claimed that the balls behaved identically to the balls used in previous World Cups, experiments showed they were harder and swung more.

Media

The host broadcasters for television coverage of the tournament were Sky and BBC Television. In the UK, live games were divided between the broadcasters, with both screening the final live. This was to be BBC's last live cricket coverage during that summer, with all of England's home Test series being shown on Channel 4 or Sky from 1999 onwards; the BBC did not show any live cricket again until August 2020.