Once the teams got past this, there was more news! Unlike previous editions, this one had no groups and for the first 26 days, all nine teams would play against each other. A total of 36 matches and a league stage that never seemed to end ensued. While the format was fair, it was simply too long drawn. New Zealand was the co-hosts for this event and would play all their preliminary stage matches at home.
Starting with the opening match against Australia, New Zealand made an immediate impression. Captained by the wily Martin Crowe, New Zealand got off to the perfect start beating their trans-Tasman rivals by 37 runs. Crowe set the tone for the tournament scoring a fine 100* and was well supported by Ken Rutherford (54). But the real surprise for Australia was when they went in to bat. Crowe opened with Chris Cairns but the new ball was shared by off-spinner Deepak Patel. The Australians took a while to figure out what happened during which time Patel rattled off 10 overs for just 36 runs and also claimed the wicket of Captain Allan Border. David Boon seemed to continue from where he left off in 1987 and smashed a 100 before he was run out.
The opening day also saw India take on England. Over the last few years, neither team had done well in Australia, and India had only recently been beaten badly in a Test series. England batted first and set India 236 to win. But an incredibly slow opening batsman Ravi Shastri (57 off 112 balls) put extra pressure on the other batsmen who eventually ended up hitting out. India fell short but only just (9 runs). There were two notable additions to the Indian team in 1992: Sachin Tendulkar and Javagal Srinath. Although Tendulkar had been around since the 1989 season, this was his first World Cup. All-rounder Dermot Reeve proved to be the thorn in India's flesh picking up 3/38.
Elsewhere, an absolutely amazing run-chase was engineered by the Sri Lankan team against Zimbabwe. Batting first, Zimbabwe scored a mammoth 312/4 with Andy Flower scoring 115* (152) and A Waller scoring 83 off just 45 balls. Most thought the result was a foregone conclusion, but Sri Lanka waged such a strong counter-attack that Zimbabwe could not hold out. Roshan Mahanama scored 59 (89), Samaraweera scored 75 (61) and Arjuna Ranatunga scored 88* off just 61. Sri Lanka won the match with 4 balls to spare and announced their arrival on the big stage. Pakistan lost by 10 wickets to the West Indies despite a 102 (158) by Rameez Raja. The West Indies had unleashed a new weapon of their own called Brian Lara who scored 88 (102) before retiring hurt. Captain Richie Richardson completed the job with Desmond Haynes.
South Africa made their World Cup debut with a stunning performance against hosts Australia. Allan Donald burst on the scene with 3/34 and Jonty Rhodes announced his athletic intentions with a superb run out of Craig McDermott. Having restricted Australia to just 170, South Africa, led by former Australia batsman Kepler Wessels (81*), won by 9 wickets. A rude shock as any for Australia and now they were truly playing catch-up having lost two in two.
A long drawn preliminary stage saw many fascinating performances. None more than the South Africans who dazzled everyone with their fielding prowess. In the course of events, Jonty Rhodes became the first fielding star in cricket! His run-out of Inzamam ul-Haq will always be regarded as one of the best dismissals ever. The biggest disappointment of the tournament would have to be India. They managed to win only two matches and for some reason, were satisfied with beating Pakistan! Their only other win came against Zimbabwe and the fifth point they garnered was thanks to an abandoned match against Sri Lanka.
The most disappointing and disappointed team of the World Cup would have to be hosts Australia. After losing their opening two games, Australia came back strongly to win their next 4 matches (including another 1 run win over India) but a loss to Pakistan and later, the West Indies proved decisive. Had Australia beaten the West Indies, they would have definitely made it through to the semi-final at the expense of Pakistan.
Pakistan themselves were lucky to make the semi-final. In their match against England, they were bowled out for 74 and England was cruising at 24 for 1 when rain interrupted and the match had to be abandoned. The point that was shared here proved to be the decider between Pakistan, West Indies and Australia.
New Zealand was the form team of the World Cup going into the semi-final. Facing Pakistan, the only team that had beaten them in the preliminary stages and qualified for the knock out stage, were their opponents in Auckland. New Zealand continued to open with Mark Greatbatch, the man who thought of the cricket ball as his enemy! But the two batsmen who would shape the innings would again be Martin Crow and Ken Rutherford. Crowe scored 91 (83) while Rutherford scored 50 (68) and New Zealand set Pakistan a challenging target of 263. It looked like New Zealand all the way and when Pakistan was reduced to 140 for 4, there seemed no way out. But the ever-alert Javed Miandad was still around and was joined by a young Inzamam ul-Haq. From 140 for 4, Inzamam (60 off 48) took Pakistan to 227 and played the innings that announced his coming of age. When the last run was scored with one over to go, Miandad was still standing on 57* and Pakistan had done the improbable.
In the second semi-final, South Africa was robbed of certain victory by rain. In an already truncated match, England set South Africa 253 to win in 45 overs. South Africa needed 22 runs off 13 balls when rain interrupted. The number of overs was reduced to 43 but the required runs remained at 22. South Africa was given one ball to score these runs. England had Graeme Hick's 83 to thank for their total but South Africa's charge had been brought to an abrupt and rude halt.
England was playing in its second successive World Cup final and Pakistan, their first ever. England was the favourite but Imran Khan had constantly egged on his team telling them to play like "cornered tigers". Powered by a 72 by Imran and 58 by Miandad, Pakistan set England 250 to win. Derek Pringle was the star for England with 3 for 22 in his 10 overs. England seemed to be on track for the win when Wasim Akram struck twice in two balls dismissing Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis with 109 runs still left to score. England was effectively out of the chase and even a late charge by Pringe, Defreitas and Neil Fairbrother (62) was not enough. Pakistan had won by 22 runs.
The 1992 edition was considered largely to be the fairest of all thanks to its long-drawn format. The only real flaw was the rain rule known as the Duckworth-Lewis system. It continues to be part of the game and there aren't many apart from the inventors who really understand how it works.
The game of cricket had changed dramatically in the course of five weeks. The evolution that would continue over the next few editions had been set in motion.
PHOTOS © GETTY IMAGES
| Country | P | W | L | NR | T | WIN% |
| New Zealand | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 77.78 |
| England | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 60 |
| Pakistan | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 60 |
| South Africa | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| West Indies | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| Australia | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| India | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Sri Lanka | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Zimbabwe | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 |
