1999 Cricket World Cup final

Background

Australia and Pakistan had never previously faced each other in a major tournament final. Australia were former winners of the World Cup in 1987 while Pakistan were former winners of 1992 edition.

Road to final

Source:

Pakistan

Pakistan had finished top of Pool B ahead of Australia who were in the same pool. They started their world cup campaign with a victory over West Indies and Scotland. Later, they defeated tournament favourites Australia and then New Zealand. This allowed them to qualify for the super-six stage despite losing to Bangladesh in a shocker. In the super six stage, they lost their second consecutive match to South Africa. Then they lost to their arch-rivals India leading to their third consecutive defeat. However, in their last super-six match they easily defeated Zimbabwe and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they easily defeated New Zealand by 9 wickets to qualify for their second world cup final after 1992.

Australia

Regarded as the tournament favourites, Australia started their tournament campaign with a victory over Scotland. However, the momentum completely changed as they lost two consecutive matches to New Zealand and Pakistan. Later, with timely changes they defeated Bangladesh and West Indies and ranked second in Pool B and qualified for the next round. In the super six stage, they made a sensational comeback by defeating India, Zimbabwe and South Africa and qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they faced South Africa again but this time the match ended in one of the most dramatic matches ever as it was a tie between both teams, however Australia qualified for the finals as they finished above South Africa based on the run-rate in the Super Sixes. Thus, Australia qualified for their third world cup final after 1975 and 1987.

Details

Match officials

• On-field umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and David Shepherd (Eng)
• Third umpire: Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Ind)
• Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)

Summary

Pakistan's captain Wasim Akram won the toss and elected to bat. Pakistan made a slow and shaky start as they lost their openers early. Razzaq tried to stabilize the innings but was dismissed in the 20th over as Pakistan were 68 off 3. Later, as Warne came to bowl this proved to be the turning point of the match as Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals and the middle order collapsed completely as Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam, Moin Khan and others got out cheaply and eventually they got bowled out at 132 runs, thanks to a fine bowling display by Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Tom Moody and others. In response, Australia made a quick start to the chase as Adam Gilchrist made a quick 54 runs off 36 balls. As Australia were 112 off 2, Mark Waugh and Lehmann stabilized the innings and in the end, the winning boundary by Lehmann ensured victory to Australia as they won the match after 20.1 overs, losing just two wickets. Shane Warne was later awarded with the man of the match award for taking four crucial wickets and Australia lifted their second World Cup after 1987.

Attendance: 30,040

Scorecard

Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Wasti, 4.4 ov), 2-21 (Anwar, 5.1 ov), 3-68 (Razzaq, 19.4 ov), 4-77 (Ijaz, 23.4 ov), 5-91 (Moin, 27.1 ov), 6-104 (Inzamam, 30.1 ov), 7-113 (Afridi, 31.6 ov), 8-129 (Mahmood, 36.6 ov), 9-129 (Akram, 37.2 ov), 10-132 (Saqlain, 38.6 ov)

Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Gilchrist, 10.1 ov), 2-112 (Ponting, 17.4 ov)

References

References

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4. (18 June 1999). "The route to the final {{!}} How Pakistan and Australia got to Lord's". The Guardian.
5. "Pakistan at World Cup 1999 – Results Summary". ESPN Cricinfo.
6. "1999 World Cup team was the strongest: Inzamam". Dawn.
7. (4 February 2004). "The day SA ran out of luck". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
8. "Australia at World Cup 1999 – Results Summary". ESPN Cricinfo.
9. "'99 Revisited: The beginning of an Aussie legend". Cricket Australia.
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