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Team performances in World Cups in England

Mohandas Menon

Although six editions of the World Cups have been played so far - three in England, two in the Indian sub-continent and one in Australasia, playing in English conditions where the ball dominates the bat calls for special skills.

Tall scores will not be the order the day. So let's review the team performances of the first three World Cup matches.

A total of 56 matches have been played in the first three World Cups in England. All matches then played were of 60-overs-a-side. A glance at Table A (below) indicates that the West Indies, with most of its players playing in English counties in the seventies and eighties, have the best record - they also won two world titles and narrowly missed the third!

Host England, with home conditions favouring them, has the second best record. India, on the basis of its 1983 performance, occupies the number three position jointly with New Zealand. Interestingly, Australia and Pakistan, who are considered among the better teams, are in the fifth spot in terms of success percentage.

The table below also provides the total runs scored and wickets lost by the ten teams in England.

Table A: SUMMARY OF MATCHES WITH RESULTS

No Country Played Won Lost Success % Runs scored wickets Runs/Wkts Runs/100 balls
1. West Indies 17 15 2 88.23 3772 94 40.13 65.12
2. England 16 12 4 75.00 3440 99 34.75 70.28
3. India 14 7 7 50.00 2754 107 25.74 63.17
4. New Zealand 14 7 7 50.00 3015 104 28.99 63.49
5. Australia 14 6 8 42.86 2999 108 27.77 70.10
6. Pakistan 14 6 8 42.86 3257 101 32.25 67.78
7. Sri Lanka 11 2 9 18.18 2251 95 23.69 62.48
8. Zimbabwe 6 1 5 16.66 1257 53 23.72 60.11
9. East Africa 3 - 3 00.00 342 28 12.21 33.93
10. Canada 3 - 3 00.00 289 29 9.97 35.99
    56       23376 818 28.58 65.12

Although the World Cup matches in Englad were of 60-overs-a-side, only on eight occasions have teams crossed the 300-run mark. In one of the opening matches of the 1975 edition, England blasted the Indians to score 334-4 in its allotted 60 overs at Lord's.

This remained a record until Pakistan reached 338-5 against Sri Lanka at Swansea in 1983. This score in a 50-over match would have meant a total of just 282 runs.

Just for the record, the most runs scored by any team in a one-day international had come in a World Cup match, when Sri Lanka scored 398-5 in 50 overs against Kenya at Kandy in 1996. Interestingly, had Sri Lanka maintained a similar run rate over a 60 over game, it could have reached a total of 478 runs. Table B lists the highest team scores in England.

Table B: HIGHEST TEAM TOTALS

SCORE MATCH VENUE YEAR  
338-5 (60 overs) Pakistan v Sri Lanka Swansea 1983 (282)
334-4 (60 overs) England v India Lord's 1975 (278)
333-9 (60 overs) England v Sri Lanka Taunton 1983 (277)
330-6 (60 overs) Pakistan v Sri Lanka Nottingham 1975 (275)
328-5 (60 overs) Australia v Sri Lanka The Oval 1975 (273)
322-6 (60 overs) England v New Zealand The Oval 1983 (268)
320-9 (60 overs) Australia v India Nottingham 1983 (266)
309-5 (60 overs) New Zealand v East Africa Birmingham 1975 (258)
Best for India :
266-8 (60 overs) India v Zimbabwe Tunbridge Wells 1983 (222)

Note: Figures in the last column indicates the adjusted totals in a 50-over match.

Sri Lanka, despite its poor record in England, has twice managed huge second innings totals without winning. The West Indies remains the only team in World Cup competition on English soil to surpass huge totals batting second. Table C has the details.

Table C: HIGHEST TOTALS BY TEAMS BATTING SECOND

SCORE MATCH VENUE YEAR
288-9 (60 overs) Sri Lanka v Pakistan (338-5) Swansea 1983
286 (58 overs) Sri Lanka v England (333-9) Taunton 1983
276-3+ (57.5 overs) West Indies v Australia (273-6) Lord's 1983
276-4 (60 overs) Sri Lanka v Australia (328-5) Lord's 1975
274 (58.4 overs) Australia v West Indies (291-8) Lord's 1975
267-9+ (59.4 overs) West Indies v Pakistan (266-7) Birmingham 1975

Note:+ indicates winning totals

Mohandas Menon concludes his look at batting performances in England

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