Kandy joins 1996 World Cup victory silver jubilee celebrations

The Central Proivnece Cricket Assocation and Kandy District Cricket Association celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Sri Lanka’s 96 World Cup victory. The 1996 Wills Cricket World Cup, was the sixth cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council. It was the second World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan and India, and for the first time by Sri Lanka. The final was played on 17 March 1996, between former World Champions Australia and Sri Lanka in Pakistan.

Wills World Cup comprised 37 matches played in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India from February 16 to March 17. Six games were played in Sri Lanka, fourteen in Pakistan and seventeen in India. Sri Lanka, Australia, India, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, England, UAE and the Netherlands participated. Debutant were UAE, the Netherlands and Kenya.

Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets in the final and created history, making it the first time to win the crown by a host or co-host. Sri Lanka’s star bat Aravinda de Silva won the ‘Man of the Match’, while ‘Man of the Series’ went on to Sanath Jayasuriya. In this World Cup Sachin Tendulkar scored the maximum number of runs (523), while Anil Kumble was the highest wicket-taker with 15.

Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga won the toss and sent Australia into bat in the final played under lights. After a blazing start from captain Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting, Australians were looking good with the bat scoring 137 for 1, but Lankans made inroads with their spin attack reducing them to 170 for 5 and finally settled to 241 for 7 in 50 overs. Skipper Mark Taylor (74) and Ricky Ponting (45) put together 101 runs for the second wicket.

Things got better for the Aussies as they were able to send the dangerous opening combination of Sri Lanka Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana back to the pavilion with just 23 runs on the board. But a 125-run third wicket partnership between Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva put Sri Lanka in the driver’s seat. Asanka Gurusinha fell for 65, but Aravinda de Silva went on to score an unbeaten 107 and shared an unbroken 97-run stand with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (47 run out) to give Sri Lanka their first World Cup title. Aravinda also took 3/42 in his 10 overs.

These two countries had never previously faced each other in a major tournament final. Australia were winners of the 1987 World Cup whilst Sri Lanka had never went beyond the group stages in World Cups. Sri Lanka bagged the victory scoring 245 for 3 in 46.2 overs with Aravinda Silva top scoring 107.

Australia – M.A.Taylor 74, M.E. Waugh 12, R.T. Ponting 45, S.R. Waugh 13, S.K. Warne 2, S.G. law 22, M.G. Beven not out 36, Ian Healey 2, P.R . Reiffel not out 13, Extras 22, overs 50, wickets 7 Total 241 – Chminda Vaas 1/30, Muttiaha Muralitharan 1/31, Kumar Dharmaseana 1/47, Sanath Jayasuriya 1/43, Aravinda Silva 3/42.

Sri Lanka – Sanath Jayasuriya 00, Romesh Kaluwitharana 06, Asanga Gurusinghe 65, Aravinda de Silva not out 107, Arjuna Ranatunga not out 47, Extras 20, Wickets 3, 0vers 46.2 D.W. Fleming 1/43, P.R. Reiffel 1/49, This match was played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore where Steve Buckner and David Shepherd umpired.

Sri Lanka first played international cricket in 1926-27 against MCC at Nomads Grounds losing by an innings. The first win came against Patiala at Dhruve Pan Dove Stadium in 1932-33. Also competed in the M.J. Gopalan Trophy games from 1950’s and in 1981 they were granted Test status making Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing country. The first Test was played in 1982. Sri Lanka won the ICC champions trophy in 2002, and were the number two in the 2007 World Cup. Sri Lanka became runner-up in the ICC World T20 in 2009.

In the semi final Sri Lanka beat India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in front of over 100,000 crowd. Sri Lanka launched a stunning counter-attack led by Aravinda de Silva to post a strong total of 251 for 8. In their chase India began promisingly but after the loss of Sachin Tendulkar’s prized wicket they had slumped to 120 for 8 in the 35th over when sections of the crowd began to throw plastic bottles into the field.

The players left the field for 20 minutes and resuming play more bottles were thrown into the field and crowd set fir on stands. Match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka, the first default ever in a Test or one day international.

In the other semifinal in Mohali, Australia recovered from 15 for 4 to reach 207 for 8 in their 50 overs. The West Indians had reached 165 for 2 in the 42nd over before losing their last eight wickets for 37 runs in 50 balls.