1975 Cricket World Cup final

Road to the final

Main article: 1975 Cricket World Cup

West Indies

West Indies qualified for the knockouts with a first-place finish in Group B. The team won all three of their matches against Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Then in the semi-final against New Zealand, the opposition opened brilliantly, but when Glenn Turner fell, the wickets tumbled the West Indies scored the required 158 to reach the final.

Australia

Australia made it through to the knockouts in second place with their only loss being against the West Indies. But they did defeat Pakistan and Sri Lanka to take on England in the semi-final. Gary Gilmour took six wickets in the English innings to help them through to the final.

Final

Summary

The first final was played on 21 June (Midsummer of that year), a sunny day, in front of a capacity crowd of 26,765. The first moment of drama came when opener Roy Fredericks was dismissed hit wicket; he hooked a bouncer from Dennis Lillee for six, but in his follow-through lost his balance and knocked the bails off the stumps. Australia were on top at 50/3 when West Indian captain Clive Lloyd came to the crease in partnership with veteran Rohan Kanhai. The pair swung the match in the West Indies' favour by putting on 149 for the fourth wicket. Kanhai played the anchor role – not scoring for 11 overs – while Lloyd took on the Australian bowling attack, surviving a dropped catch on 26 to score a century off 82 balls with 12 fours and two sixes, being dismissed shortly afterwards for 102. Kanhai, in what would be his farewell from international cricket, scored an invaluable 55. Solid contributions from Keith Boyce and Bernard Julien helped the West Indies close their innings at 291/8. Burly left-arm seamer Gary Gilmour was the pick of the Australian bowlers with 5/48, backing up his strong semi-final performance.

The Australian run chase began steadily: at the 20-over mark, they were 80/1 with Alan Turner and captain Ian Chappell taking advantage of an easy pitch and fast outfield. In each situation, the batsmen probably would have made the run had they not hesitated.

The match finally ended three balls later after Thomson had run a leg bye and Lillee scored a single. The final wicket fell with Thomson swinging wildly and missing. Having not realised the wicket-keeper had held the ball Thomson set off for a run, attempted to return after recognising his mistake but not before Murray knocked the bails off with a well-aimed underarm throw with his gloves on for a run-out. The game ended at 8:43 pm after nearly 10 hours play. Another pitch invasion ensued as the players and umpires ran for safety, with Thomson having his cricket pads stolen, Boyce losing his shoes and umpire Bird having his hat taken. Bird later said that he came across the stolen hat being worn by a bus conductor in London a year after the event. When he asked about it, he was told by the conductor, who did not recognise Bird, that he'd "won the race" by sprinting onto the field at the final to take it.

Match details

Attendance : 26,765

Scorecard

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Fredericks), 2-27 (Kallicharran), 3-50 (Greenidge), 4-199 (Lloyd), 5-206 (Kanhai), 6-209 (Richards), 7-261 (Boyce), 8-285 (Murray)

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (McCosker), 2-81 (Turner), 3-115 (GS Chappell), 4-162 (IM Chappell), 5-170 (Walters), 6-195 (Marsh), 7-221 (Gilmour), 8-231 (Edwards), 9-233 (Walker), 10-274 (Thomson)

References

References

1. Woodcock, John. (23 June 1975). "The great day when London was Lloyd's". [[The Times]].
2. Preston, Norman. (12 January 2006). "The Prudential World Cup final 1975: AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES". [[Wisden Almanack]].
3. Williamson, Martin. (30 October 2014). "The deadly arm of Viv Richards". [[ESPN Cricinfo]].
4. "They think it's all over ... it isn't!". [[ESPN Cricinfo]].
5. "Final, Prudential World Cup at Lord's, Jun 21 1975".
6. "Final, Prudential World Cup at Lord's, Jun 21 1975".
7. "Final, Prudential World Cup at Lord's, Jun 21 1975".