1996 Cricket World Cup

The World Cup was played in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India hosted 17 matches at 17 venues, while Pakistan hosted 16 matches at 6 venues and Sri Lanka hosted 4 matches at 3 venues.

Controversy dogged the tournament before any games were played; Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Sri Lanka following the bombing of Central Bank in Colombo by the Tamil Tigers in January 1996. Sri Lanka, in addition to offering maximum security to the teams, questioned the validity of citing security concerns when the International Cricket Council had determined it was safe. After extensive negotiations, the ICC ruled that Sri Lanka would be awarded both games on forfeit. As a result of this decision, Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the quarter-finals before playing a game.

• Two matches were scheduled to be played at Premadasa Stadium, but neither took place as Australia and the West Indies declined to play in Sri Lanka.^[1]

All the Test-playing nations participated in the competition, including Zimbabwe, who became the ninth Test-status member of the ICC following the last World Cup. The three Associate teams (previously one) to qualify through the 1994 ICC Trophy – the United Arab Emirates, Kenya and the Netherlands – also made their World Cup debuts in 1996. The Netherlands lost all of their five matches, including a defeat to the UAE, while Kenya recorded a surprise victory over the West Indies in Pune.

The Sri Lankans, coached by Dav Whatmore and captained by Arjuna Ranatunga, used Man of the Series Sanath Jayasuriya^[2] and Romesh Kaluwitharana as opening batsmen to take advantage of the fielding restrictions during the first 15 overs of each innings. At a time when 50 or 60 runs in the first 15 overs was considered adequate, Sri Lanka scored 117 runs in those overs against India, 123 against Kenya, 121 against England in the quarter-final and 86 against India in the semi-final. Against Kenya, Sri Lanka made 398 for 5, a new record for the highest team score in a One Day International that stood until April 2006. Gary Kirsten scored 188 not out against United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi, Pakistan. This became the highest individual score ever in any World Cup match until it was surpassed by first Chris Gayle of the West Indies, and later Martin Guptill of New Zealand, who scored 215 and 237 respectively in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Sri Lanka won the first semi-final over India at Eden GardensinCalcutta, in front of a crowd unofficially estimated at 110,000. After they had lost both openers cheaply, Sri Lanka launched a counter-attack, led by Aravinda de Silva, to post a strong total of 251 for the loss of 8 wickets. India began their chase promisingly but after the loss of Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian batting order collapsed. After India had slumped to 120 for 8 in the 35th over, sections of the crowd began to throw fruit and plastic bottles onto the field. The players left the field for 20 minutes in an attempt to quieten the crowd. When the players returned for play, more bottles were thrown onto the field and fires were lit in the stand.^[3][4] Match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka, the first default ever in a TestorOne Day International.

In the second semi-final in Mohali, Australia recovered from 15/4 to reach 207/8 from their 50 overs. The West Indians had reached 165/2 in the 42nd over before losing their last eight wickets for 37 runs in 50 balls.

Sri Lanka won the toss in the final and sent Australia in to bat despite the team batting first having won all five previous World Cup finals. Mark Taylor top scored with 74 in Australia's total of 241/7. Sri Lanka won the match in the 47th over with Aravinda de Silva following his 3 for 42 with an unbeaten 107 to win the Player of the Match award. It was the first time a tournament host or co-host had won the cricket World Cup.^[5]

A warm-up match was played between South Africa and Pakistan on 8 February 1996 in which South Africa defeated Pakistan by 65 runs.^[6]

• Australia forfeited the match due to safety concerns, and were in Mumbai at the time of the match.

• Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat.

• West Indies forfeited the match due to safety concerns.

• This game was scheduled to be played on 25 February; the game started but was abandoned after 15.5 overs of the Zimbabwe innings.

• Kenya won their first ODI match.
• This was the first time the West Indies lost an ODI to an ICC Associate.
• This was the fourth win in ODI history by an ICC Associate (all in World Cups, SL v IND 1979, ZIM v AUS 1983, ZIM v ENG 1992).

• Sri Lanka's total of 398/5 surpassed England's 363/7 against Pakistan in 1992 as the highest score in all ODIs. The record stood until 12 March 2006, when both Australia and South Africa broke it in the same match. It remained a World Cup record until the 2007 tournament, when India scored 413/5 against Bermuda.^[7]

• Match was delayed from 15th February due to rain and a flooded ground.
• Gary Kirsten's unbeaten 188 was the highest ever individual score in a World Cup match, surpassing Viv Richards' 181* against Sri Lanka in 1987, and the second-highest ODI score of all time, one short of Richards' all-time ODI record score of 189.
• South Africa's score of 321/2 was their highest in ODIs.
• The United Arab Emirates' ninth-wicket partnership of 80* between Arshad Laeeq and Shaukat Dukanwala was the second-highest of all time.

• This was the Netherlands' first ODI match.
• Peter Cantrell, Flavian Aponso, Steven Lubbers, Roland Lefebvre, Tim de Leede, Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk, Marcelis Schewe, Bastiaan Zuiderent, Eric Gouka and Paul-Jan Bakker (Ned) all made their ODI debut.
• At 47 years and 240 days, Nolan Clarke (Ned) became the oldest player to make his ODI debut.^[8][9]
• Stephen Fleming (NZ) took his only ODI wicket.^[10]

• Match reduced to 47 overs a side due to heavy fog at the start of the match.

• Bucknor replaced Ian Robinson as an umpire in this match after protests by Pakistan.

• This was the first ever official ODI between two ICC Associate teams.

• South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.
• Peter Cantrell, Flavian Aponso, Marcelis Schewe, Eric Gouka, Steven Lubbers and Paul-Jan Bakker (all Ned) played their final ODI match.^[11]
• Nolan Clarke (Ned), aged 47 years and 257 days, played his final ODI match, the oldest player to do so.^[12][13]

• England won the toss and elected to bat first.

• India won the toss and elected to bat first.
• Pakistan was fined 1 over for a slow over rate.

• West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.

• New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.

• India won the toss and elected to field.
• The match was awarded to Sri Lanka by match referee Clive Lloyd when play could not be continued due to the rioting crowd.^[3][4]
• Sri Lanka qualified for the final for first time.

• Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
• Australia qualified for the final for third time after 1975 and 1987.

• Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field. Mark Taylor (74 from 83 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) and Ricky Ponting (45 from 73 balls, 2 fours) shared a second-wicket partnership of 101 runs. When Ponting and Taylor were dismissed, however, Australia fell from 137/1 to 170/5 as the famed four-pronged spin attack of Sri Lanka took its toll. Despite the slump, Australia struggled on to 241/7 from their 50 overs.

• Cricket World Cup 1996 from ESPNcricinfo