1987 Cricket World Cup

Result

Player of the Match (Final)

David Boon, Australia

Tournament format

The first World Cup held outside England, jointly hosted by India and Pakistan and officially branded the Reliance Cup. Overs per side were reduced from 60 to 50 for the first time -- the format still used today. 8 teams in two groups of four, double round-robin, then semi-finals and the final.

Full match archive

Every match of the 1987 tournament, not just the final — all 26 group-stage and semi-final matches, plus the final round-robin standings. See all 26 matches →

Final: match context

The 1987 World Cup broke new ground simply by existing where it did: the first edition held outside England, jointly staged by India and Pakistan, and the first played at the 50-overs-per-side length that has defined one-day cricket ever since. In the final itself, at a packed Eden Gardens in Calcutta, Australia held off England by just 7 runs to claim their first World Cup title. Australia batted first and posted 253 for 5 from their 50 overs. Openers Geoff Marsh and David Boon put on 52 inside the first ten overs to give the innings a platform, and Boon went on to anchor the innings with 75 off 125 balls, the tournament's Player of the Match award going to him for his role across the campaign. Dean Jones (33) and Allan Border (31) kept the total moving in the middle overs, before Mike Veletta produced a decisive late flourish, striking an unbeaten 45 off just 31 balls to push Australia from a merely solid total to one that would prove just enough. England's chase built a foundation through Bill Athey, who made 58 off 103 balls, and captain Mike Gatting, who added 41 in a stand that kept England within touching distance of the target deep into the innings. But the match turned on a single stroke: attempting an ambitious reverse-sweep off part-time spinner Allan Border, Gatting top-edged the shot into his own stumps -- a moment of high-risk shot selection against a required rate that, in truth, did not yet demand it, and one that has been replayed and second-guessed in English cricket ever since. England's innings never fully recovered from the psychological blow, and despite continued resistance down the order they finished on 246 for 8, seven runs short of Australia's total. The tournament carried real disappointment for its co-hosts: both India and Pakistan, the two nations that had put up the money and the infrastructure to bring the World Cup outside England for the first time, were eliminated at the semi-final stage -- India losing to England and Pakistan losing to Australia -- denying either host a fairytale home final. India's Chetan Sharma took the first-ever World Cup hat-trick, against New Zealand, one of the tournament's individual highlights. This was also the last World Cup played entirely in traditional white kit with a red ball; the 1992 tournament would introduce coloured clothing and a white ball for the first time, closing out this era of one-day cricket's visual identity. Craig McDermott finished with 18 wickets for the champions, while England's Graham Gooch was the tournament's leading run-scorer with 471.

Sources

• Wikipedia: 1987 Cricket World Cup
• Wikipedia: 1987 Cricket World Cup final
• ESPNcricinfo