The co-hosts of this year’s Cricket World Cup, Australia, can look back at their history with a sense of pride. Having won the tournament a record four times, Australia is, by far, the most successful team to date.
In the inaugural competition back in 1975, Australia progressed from their group second on the log. Meeting the home team, England, in the semi-final, Australia managed to bowl the hosts out for a mere 93 runs on a clearly difficult batting track with Gary Gilmour taking an impressive 6-14. While their chase wasn’t any easier, they managed to scramble to their required total and take a four wicket win to progress to the final.
Despite their aggressive and fairly daunting bowling attack of Dennis Lilee and Jeff Thomson, Australia found their bowlers tamed by West Indian captain Clive Lloyd and his 102-run contribution. Australian captain Ian Chappell lead an enthusiastic reply with his 62 runs but found himself a victim to one of three run outs during the innings. Lilee and Thomson proved to be stubborn in their removal at the bottom of the order but Australia were eventually dismissed 17 runs short.
In the 1979 tournament, Australia’s journey to another final was cut remarkably short. After winning just one game from three in their group stages, beating Canada by seven wickets, the Aussie men were unable to make it into the top two of their group and were sent home with little to be proud of.
When 1983 came around, it was clear that Australia were looking to redeem themselves after their less than ideal previous tournament. However, that was not the case when they found themselves in an almost identical position. Winning just two games out of six in the group stages, they failed to move on and headed home much earlier than hoped for.
1987 was a new year and new opportunity to get back into the swing of things for Australia. They failed to top their group, despite winning five of their six games. It was equal to India who topped the group through their superior net run-rate. Meeting Pakistan in the semi-finals, David Boon led the batting with a score of 65 from 91 balls. In spite of a 112-run partnership between Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, the Australian bowlers held their own and bowled their team into the final by bowling Pakistan out.
David Boon shined again in the final against England by contributing 75 runs from 125 balls and was the top scorer of the day. While England showed the capability of chasing down the total, the run-rate soon became out of reach, allowing Australia to take a seven-run win.
1992 saw Australia co-host the tournament with New Zealand. While New Zealand was able to make the most of the home ground advantage, Australia did not and despite winning half of their group stage games, it was not enough to progress to the next round of matches.
In 1996, Australia won three of their five matches (which included a forfeit from the men in gold due to concerns about safety, handing Sri Lanka the win in Colombo) and qualified second in their group. Meeting New Zealand in the quarter-finals, a massive knock from Mark Waugh (110) cancelled out Chris Harris and his 130-run contribution for the Kiwis, giving Australia the win by six wickets. After beating the West Indies by just five runs in the semi-final, they could not keep their winning momentum going. Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting established a 101-run second-wicket partnership, but the spin attack of Sri Lanka and a superb knock from Aravindade de Silva (107) pushed Sri Lanka to victory.
1999 was a great year for Australia. They were close to being knocked out during the group stages and again in the super sixes round, where they were part of a semi-final game that to this day is a painful memory for many South African cricket fans. South Africa needed just one run off the final four balls but panic running between Lance Klusener and Allan Donald created a run out and the game ended in a tie. Australia progressed due to a better net run rate in the super sixes log. Their final against Pakistan was no real challenge, with Australia emerging the victors in just four and a half hours.
In the 2003 World Cup, Australia were cruising, winning all their group games convincingly, until they reached the semi-finals against Sri Lanka. A tricky pitch in Port Elizabeth had Australia struggling to a 212-run total. However, thanks to some clean and disciplined bowling and a little help from the rain, Sri Lanka were restricted to 123 after Duckworth-Lewis changed the game.
The final was a better game for them, with their new one-day captain Ricky Ponting hitting a true captain’s knock of 140*, helping Australia to a massive 125-run victory. This win made them the first team to win three World Cups and extended their unbeaten record in the competition to 16 games.
In 2007, the confidence Australia bought into the tournament after a crushing 5-0 victory over England in the recent Ashes was obvious. They obliterated each competitor in the round-robin stages and swiftly found themselves meeting Sri Lanka in a repeat of the 1996 final. This time Australia were not going to let the victory slip through their fingers. Adam Gilchrist bettered Ricky Ponting’s previous record in the final, smashing 149 in his appearance and allowing his team to engrave their name on the trophy once again. Matthew Hayden and Glenn McGrath were the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively, with McGrath being named the man of the tournament.
In the most recent World Cup, 2011, Australia were unable to make it five wins after they were knocked out by India in the quarter-finals who managed to chase their 200-run total with just over two overs to spare.
As things stand, Australia hold nine World Cup records, four belonging to Glenn McGrath alone, and this year their team is hoping to show the kind of cricket that earned them those records. Their young, quick strike bowling has proved to be extremely effective and combining them with the fire power of their top/middle order batsmen has made a formidable team that will be firm favourites on their home turf.
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