On this day: Australia lift their maiden World Cup trophy
Winning the World Cup is one of the biggest achievements for any team playing cricket at the highest level. And, the excitement is even more, both for the players and the fans when the team does it for the very first time. And, for the Australians, it was the 08th of November 1987 when the team won the first of its many World Cup titles. By doing so, Australia became only the third nation to do so, joining India and West Indies to win the World Cup.
In that edition of the World Cup, the Australian team was tasked in their very first match to get past the might of the defending champs, India. Playing at their home, the Indians put up a tough fight, but thanks to the efforts of Geoff Marsh, the Australians clinched the match by a run’s margin.
Australia’s First World Cup#OnThisDay in 1987, Australia won their First World Cup when they beat England by 7 runs at Eden Gardens.
Man of the Match: David Boon
Australia – only team to win World Cup more than twice
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5 Australia
2 India / West Indies pic.twitter.com/GxbTyV4KWN— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) November 8, 2020
The team had gotten off to a positive start and the rest is history. Riding on the back of some memorable performances by the squad members, led by their captain, Allan Border, who himself is a legend, the Aussies won matches back to back. The team went on to win matches against New Zealand and Zimbabwe before their streak was broken by India, who redeemed themselves by winning the match by 56 runs. The Australians, full of determination to take the cup back home, made sure that they did not lose any more matches.
They went on to defeat Zimbabwe and New Zealand again by considerable margins and cemented their place in the semi-finals. Out of the 6 matches that they played during the course of the tournament, prior to the semis and the finals, the team managed to win 5 of those and ended up as one of the most successful teams in the semis.
The knockouts
Along with India, England and Pakistan, Australia were the fourth team that made it into the semi-final stage of the tournament. In their semi-final game, the Australians were pitted against the Asian powerhouse team Pakistan. The Pakistan team, at that time, was a force to reckon with as they had players like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram playing for them. But, even they could not stop the Australians from getting another step closer to the trophy.
Batting first, the Australians, thanks to the half-century by Dean Jones, put up a score of 267 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their quota of 50 overs. Then the onus was on the bowlers to win it for them, and they did not disappoint. Craig McDermott led the Australia bowling attack taking a 5 wicket haul, and restricted the Pakistani score to just 249 runs, getting the Aussies to a win and a place in the Finals.
In the other semi-final, England beat India to make it into the Final and the age-old rivals were all set to face each other in order to get their names etched in cricket’s record books. And, that match was a fitting encounter to end a tournament as big as the World Cup.
The final step
The Australians won the toss and chose to bat first, and rising to the occasion this time was David Boon. He along with his opening partner, Geoff Marsh got the team off to a solid start. His innings of 75 runs was topped off by contributions by other Australian batsmen and at the end of 50 overs, the Australian score rested at 253 runs. The Englishmen, chasing the score, in spite of brilliant effort from the likes of Bill Athey and Allan Lamb, fell short of the total by just 8 runs. The Australians had won the match by 7 runs and were crowned the Champions for the first time in their history.
The future generations did not let down their forefathers as the Australian Cricket Team, inspired by the efforts of this team that won the 1987 World Cup, went on to become the most decorated team ever. The Aussies are the holders of 5 World Cup titles. And it would not be wrong to say that the foundations of this dream success story were laid in that 1987 campaign.
