1979 Cricket World Cup final

1979 ICC Cricket World Cup Final

Event	1979 ICC Cricket World Cup
West Indies England 286/9 194 60 overs 51 overs
West Indies won by 92 runs
Date	23 June 1979
Venue	Lord's Cricket Ground, London, England
Player of the match	Viv Richards (WI)
Umpires	Dickie Bird (Eng) and Barrie Meyer (Eng)
Attendance	32,654
← 1975 1983 →

The final of the 1979 ICC Cricket World Cup was played in Lord's, London on 23 June. This was the second time that Lord's had hosted an ICC Cricket World Cup final. The match was won by the West Indies when they defeated England by 92 runs to lift the trophy.

Background

The match was the second consecutive World Cup final hosted at Lord's, following the inaugural 1975 final.

West Indies reached a second consecutive final after defeating Pakistan by 43 runs in the semi-final. Previously, they had won the 1975 final.

England was making their first appearance at a World Cup final after defeating New Zealand by 9 runs in the semi-finals. This was also the first appearance by a European nation at a World Cup final.

Bob Willis, England's leading bowler, missed the final after being injured in the semi-final.

Match report

England won the toss and chose to field first. The West Indies got off to a bad start, falling to 99/4 with the loss of Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan, and captain Clive Lloyd. However, Vivian Richards (138 from 157 balls, 11 fours, 3 sixes) and Collis King (86 from 66 balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes) consolidated the innings. King especially ripped through the English bowling, with a strike rate of 130.3. The West Indies were already at 5/238 when the 139 run partnership ended with the loss of Collis King. Vivian Richards and the tail then took the West Indies to a very imposing total of 286 (9 wickets, 60 overs).

The English batsmen got off to a good start. But the openers, Mike Brearley (64 from 130 balls, 7 fours) and Geoff Boycott (57 from 105 balls, 3 fours) scored very slowly. They put together a very methodical opening partnership of 129 runs in 38 overs, playing as if the match were a five-day Test. By the time both batsmen were out, the run rate had risen too high. Graham Gooch played some hefty strokes in scoring his 32, taking England to 183/2. However, the loss of Derek Randall triggered the most devastating collapse in World Cup history, as England lost 8 wickets for 11 runs. They were eventually all out for 194 in 51 overs. Vivian Richards was declared Man of the Match.

23 June 1979 Scorecard

West Indies 286/9 (60 overs)	v	England 194 (51 overs)
Viv Richards 138* (157) Phil Edmonds 2/40 (12 overs)		Mike Brearley 64 (130) Joel Garner 5/38 (11 overs)

West Indies won by 92 runs Lord's, London, England Attendance : 32,654 Umpires: Dickie Bird (Eng) and Barrie Meyer (Eng) Player of the match: Viv Richards (WI)

Scorecard

West Indies batting
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Gordon Greenidge	run out (Randall)	9	31	0	0	29.03
Desmond Haynes	c Hendrick b Old	20	27	3	0	74.07
Vivian Richards	not out	138	157	11	3	87.89
Alvin Kallicharran	b Hendrick	4	17	0	0	23.52
Clive Lloyd*	c and b Old	13	33	2	0	39.39
Collis King	c Randall b Edmonds	86	66	10	3	130.30
Deryck Murray†	c Gower b Edmonds	5	9	1	0	55.55
Andy Roberts	c Brearley b Hendrick	0	7	0	0	0.00
Joel Garner	c †Taylor b Botham	0	5	0	0	0.00
Michael Holding	b Botham	0	6	0	0	0.00
Colin Croft	not out	0	2	0	0	0.00
Extras	(b 1, lb 10)	11
Total	(9 wickets; 60 overs)	286

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Greenidge), 2-36 (Haynes), 3-55 (Kallicharran), 4-99 (Lloyd), 5-238 (King), 6-252 (Murray), 7-258 (Roberts), 8-260 (Garner), 9-272 (Holding)

England bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Econ	Wides	NBs
Ian Botham	12	2	44	2	3.67	0	0
Mike Hendrick	12	2	50	2	4.17	0	0
Chris Old	12	0	55	2	4.58	0	0
Geoffrey Boycott	6	0	38	0	6.33	0	0
Phil Edmonds	12	2	40	2	3.33	0	0
Graham Gooch	4	0	27	0	6.75	0	0
Wayne Larkins	2	0	21	0	10.50	0	0

England batting
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Mike Brearley*	c King b Holding	64	130	7	0	49.23
Geoffrey Boycott	c Kallicharran b Holding	57	105	3	0	54.29
Derek Randall	b Croft	15	22	0	0	68.18
Graham Gooch	b Garner	32	28	4	0	114.29
David Gower	b Garner	0	4	0	0	0.00
Ian Botham	c Richards b Croft	4	3	0	0	133.33
Wayne Larkins	b Garner	0	1	0	0	0.00
Phil Edmonds	not out	5	8	0	0	62.50
Chris Old	b Garner	0	2	0	0	0.00
Bob Taylor†	c †Murray b Garner	0	1	0	0	0.00
Mike Hendrick	b Croft	0	5	0	0	0.00
Extras	(lb 2, nb 3, w 2)	17
Total	(10 wickets; 51 overs)	194

Fall of wickets: 1-129 (Brearley), 2-135 (Boycott), 3-183 (Randall), 4-183 (Gooch), 5-186 (Gower), 6-186 (Larkins), 7-192 (Botham), 8-192 (Old), 9-194 (Taylor), 10-194 (Hendrick)

West Indies bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Econ	Wides	NBs
Andy Roberts	9	2	33	0	3.67	0	0
Michael Holding	8	1	16	2	2.00	0	0
Colin Croft	10	1	42	3	4.20	0	0
Joel Garner	11	0	38	5	3.45	0	0
Vivian Richards	10	0	35	0	3.50	0	0
Collis King	3	0	13	0	4.33	0	0

See also

• ICC Cricket World Cup

External links

• Cricket World Cup 1979 from Cricinfo