IT was Sri Lanka’s turn to hog the limelight when the World Cup came to South Asia for the second time in 1996. That was the year when pinch-hitters cashed in to take advantage of the 15-over fielding restrictions and umpires made their Cup debut in front of the television monitor.

Co-hosted for the first time by three countries — India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — the format was also different with the tournament being expanded to accommodate 12 teams in two groups of six with Kenya, United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands making their first appearance.

Each side played the other five in its group before quarter-finalists were decided. In a nutshell, it took 30 matches to get rid of Zimbabwe and three minnows.

Sri Lanka made it to the last eight without playing Australia and the West Indies after both teams forfeited their matches rather than travel to Colombo after a bomb blast there left around 1,000 injured just before the tournament got underway.

Pakistan lost to India in the Bangalore quarter-final after their skipper Wasim Akram ‘pulled’ out of the match while citing a ‘side-strain’. The defeat led to Wasim’s house in Lahore being stoned.

Australia reached the final after surviving close shaves against New Zealand (in the Chennai quarter-final) and the West Indies in a nail-biting Mohali semi-final. West Indies lost by only five runs after incredible collapse saw them losing eight wickets for 37 in 50 balls.

Sri Lanka, who had no problem in battering England in the Faisalabad quarter-final, were awarded the semi-final by default after a Kolkata crowd of over 110,000 lost its cool as India slid to 120 for eight in pursuit of 252. Stands were set on fire as the fans gradually became agitated as the Indian wickets started to fall.

The day/night final at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium was dominated by a little man who is known in the cricketing world as Aravinda de Silva.

Batting second was a huge advantage in the March 17 final because of the notorious dew factor. Luckily, Arjuna Ranatunga won the toss and had no qualm in asking Mark Taylor’s Aussies to bat first.

De Silva made his presence felt with three wickets, including those of top-scorers Taylor and Ricky Ponting, two catches before putting the ice on Sri Lanka’s cake with an elegant 124-ball 107 that was embellished with 13 boundaries.

Sri Lanka also became the first side to win the World Cup while batting second.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

M.A. Taylor c Jayasuriya b de Silva 74

M.E. Waugh c Jayasuriya b Vaas 12

R.T. Ponting b de Silva 45

S.R. Waugh c de Silva b Dharmasena 13

S.K. Warne st Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 2

S.G. Law c de Silva b Jayasuriya 22

M.G. Bevan not out 36

I.A. Healy b de Silva 2

P.R. Reiffel not out 12

EXTRAS (LB-10, W-11, NB-1) 22

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 241

FALL OF WKTS: 1-36 (M.E. Waugh), 2-137 (Taylor), 3-152 (Ponting), 4-156 (Warne), 5-170 (S.R. Waugh), 6-202 (Law), 7-205 (Healy).

DID NOT BAT: D.W. Fleming, G.D. McGrath.

BOWLING: Wickremasinghe 7-0-38-0 (2w); Vaas 6-1-30-1; Muralitharan 10-0-31-1 (1w); Dharmasena 10-0-47-1 (1nb); Jayasuriya 8-0-43-1 (5w); de Silva 9-0-42-3 (3w).

SRI LANKA:

S.T. Jayasuriya run out 9

R.S. Kaluwitharana c Bevan b Fleming 6

A.P. Gurusinha b Reiffel 65

P.A. de Silva not out 107

A. Ranatunga not out 47

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-5, NB-1) 11

TOTAL (for three wkts, 46.2 overs) 245

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12 (Jayasuriya), 2-23 (Kaluwitharana), 3-148 (Gurusinha).

DID NOT BAT: H.P. Tillekeratne, R.S. Mahanama, H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, G.P. Wickremasinghe, M. Muralitharan

BOWLING: McGrath 8.2-1-28-0; Fleming 6-0-43-1 (4w); Warne 10-0-58-0 (1nb, 1w); Reiffel 10-0-49-1; M.E. Waugh 6-0-35-0; S.R. Waugh 3-0-15-0 (1nb); Bevan 3-0-12-0.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and D.R. Shepherd (England).

TV UMPIRE: C.J. Mitchley (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: C.H. Lloyd (West Indies).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Aravinda de Silva.