Since my earlier blog on the 1975 WC did not attract many eye balls and comments because it was history and in a decade when I was born, here goes the next one about the 79 World Cup.
Nothing changed when compared to 1975 in the cricketing world during this period except for Kerry Packer becoming one of the household names, Australia fielding a weak team and Channel 9 getting into the act in Australia.
Australia was just stepping into the " Border" era and was weakened by the Chappell brothers moving over to the Packer circus. Obviously that left only Pakistan and England as the leading challengers to the West Indian title defence. England had a balanced side , Geoff Boycott opening ( in a one day !! ) and the middle order comprising of Gooch, Gower and Botham was solid .
Collis King and IVA Richards quashed any dreams of other teams of winning . King was destructive and the West Indian batting added to their 5 pronged pace attack made sure there were little hiccups in any match.
The notable moments for me were the word " Minnows" came into being with Srilanka coming into the one day equation. They were no minnows since they beat India in the round robin and had an interesting line up of attacking stroke players like Roy Dias. Roy Dias was class personified and would probably inspire the likes of Aravinda De Silva while Duleep Mendis would do the same to Arjuna Ranatunga (looks as well !! ).
India did not do any damage to their reputation of being poor in limited over games , BTW. Venkat was still captain and Sunny was still the opener and improving his averages and strike rates. Surinder Khanna was the wicket keeper and would eventually play a part later opening the batting in 1984 Asia Cup which India won.
2 comments:
Good one... waiting for 1983
though this is after i was born.... i must admit that i had little knowledge of the game at 5 months of age.... good one .... waiting for 83... :)
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