LONDON, Feb 6: This is the second and last part of World Cup history, covering the tournaments played from 1987 to 1999:

1987 India and Pakistan

By 1987, the one-day game had taken a firm grip of the Indian sub-continent and expectations were high for the first tournament staged outside England.

Australia, who had suffered a dreadful run in test and one-day cricket since losing the Chappell brothers, Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh four years earlier, had determined to return to fundamentals.

Guided by coach Bobby Simpson and led by Allan Border, one of the toughest players in history, they upset Pakistan in the semifinal despite a polished all-round performance by Imran Khan, while Mike Gatting’s England defeated India.

The final at a packed Eden Gardens in Kolkata turned on one ball. England were in a comfortable position chasing 254 to win when Border brought himself on to bowl his occasional left-arm spin. Gatting played an injudicious reverse sweep to the first ball and was caught and Australia went on to seal a narrow victory.

Scores: Australia 253 for five off 50 overs (D.C. Boon 75); England 246 for eight off 50 overs (W. Athey 58). Australia won by seven runs.

1992 Australia and New Zealand

Imran Khan was back for a final fling after rescinding his latest retirement, only to find his team under-performing woefully in the early stages.

Urged by Imran to fight like cornered tigers, Pakistan responded by winning their semi-final against a New Zealand side who, led from the front by Martin Crowe, had set the early pace in the tournament.

In the Melbourne final against a professional England outfit captained by Graham Gooch, Imran displayed his classical batting technique in a match-winning 72 at number three, setting the scene for his fiery young left-arm fast bowler Wasim Akram to tear through the England upper order.

Pakistan 249 for six off 50 overs (Imran Khan 72, Javed Miandad 58); England 227 off 49.2 overs (N.H. Fairbrother 62). Pakistan won by 22 runs.

1996 India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

One-day cricket had evolved into an increasingly subtle product during the previous decade with a natural home in Asia where crowds flocked to limited-overs matches and increasingly ignored traditional Tests.

Appropriately, it was an Asian side in the form of Sri Lanka who took the game to another dimension. The Sri Lankans, inspired by dynamic left-handed opener Sanath Jayasuriya, defied conventional wisdom by attacking the bowling from the first ball, fully exploiting the field restrictions in the first 15 overs.

In the final in Lahore they met an Australia side who had tumbled to 15 for four in their semifinal against West Indies before recovering to win by five runs.

Australia’s total of 241 for seven was barely respectable and Aravinda de Silva ensured a Sri Lanka victory with a serene unbeaten 107.

Australia 241 for seven off 50 overs (M.A. Taylor 74); Sri Lanka 245 for three off 46.2 overs (P.A. de Silva 107 not out, A.P. Gurusinha 65). Sri Lanka won by seven wickets.

1999 England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

Australia faced elimination after slumping to 48 for three in reply to South Africa’s 271 in their final super six match at Headingley. The crisis was overcome by the steely resolution of captain Steve Waugh, dropped by Herschelle Gibbs on 58, who scored an unbeaten 120.

The pair met again in the semifinals at Edgbaston in perhaps the greatest One-day International. South Africa had the game won with a wicket in hand, the burly Lance Klusener at the crease and one run required from four balls.

Knowing a tie would put Australia through to the final because of their superior run rate in the tournament, Waugh placed his fielders in a ring. Klusener smacked one ball straight for no run, smashed a similar shot from the next and took off at the same time as his partner Allan Donald. With both batsmen stranded, bowler Damien Fleming flicked the bails off.

The final against Pakistan was, conversely, monotonously one-sided after the Pakistanis were dismissed for a paltry 132 in 39 overs. Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist smacked 50 from 33 balls and the match was over after barely 4-1/2 hours.

Pakistan 132 from 39 overs (S.K. Warne 4-33); Australia 133 for two off 20.1 overs (A.C. Gilchrist 54). Australia won by eight wickets.—Reuters