World Cup - 1996

The fifth World Cup was hosted jointly by India, Pakistan and SriLanka in 1996 and was called the Wills World Cup.

Three teams made their World Cup debuts in 1996: the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Kenya. So total of 12 teams – SriLanka, India, Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Kenya – were divided into two groups.

At the start of the tournament, Australia and West Indies refused to go to SriLanka, because of the LTTE bombings which had taken place. So SriLanka were declared winners without competing against these two teams.

The first semifinal was between India and SriLanka at the Eden Gardens. SriLanka batted first and made 251 for 8 wickets. After a good opening, Indian wickets started collapsing and were 120 for 8 in the 35th over when sections of crowd began to throw fruit and plastic bottles onto the field. The players left the field for some time but when they again returned for play, more bottles were thrown onto the field and fires were lit in the stand. Match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka, the first default ever in a Test or One-day international.

In the second semi-final at Mohali, Australia were 15 for 4. But after good batting performance they reach 207 for 8 from their 50 overs. The West Indians too had a very good start and were 165 for 2 in the 42nd over. But after that they kept losing wickets and were all down in for about 202 runs.

In the finals, SriLanka won the toss and asked Australia to bat despite the team batting first having won all five previous World Cup finals. Australia made 241 after losing 7 wickets in their 50 overs. Sri Lanka won the match in the 47th over with Aravinda de Silva following his 3 for 42 with an unbeaten 107. He also won the Player of the Match award. It was the first time a tournament host or co-host had won the cricket World Cup.

Fifth World Cup went top the SriLankans.