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World Cup 1992, England vs Pakistan: Three hours of rain changes course of tournament

Pakistan were bowled for a meagre 74 in the group match vs England, before rain saved them. The point Pakistan earned changed the course of the tournament, and perhaps Pakistan cricket in the 1990s.

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Alec Stewart flings himself to the right to pouch Ijaz Ahmed. It was the second of his three outstanding catches of the match © Getty Images
Alec Stewart flings himself to the right to pouch Ijaz Ahmed. It was the second of his three outstanding catches of the match © Getty Images

England were denied a comfortable win on March 1, 1992 in a World Cup encounter at Adelaide Oval. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the day when rain played as a pivotal role as any in a side clinching cricket’s Holy Grail.

The fifth World Cup, the first held in the Southern Hemisphere, came with its pros and cons. It remains the only time that all nine sides were pitted against each other in a round-robin group format, thus eliminating the possibility of weaker sides going through. On the flip side, it came with a couple of queer rules, two of which — the rain rule and the case where the side batting first not getting to bat fifty overs — both came into prominence in the semi-final between England and South Africa.

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The tournament also witnessed a few innovative moves, mostly from New Zealand — who had opened bowling with a spinner (Dipak Patel); used their famous “Dibbly-Dobbly-Wibbly-Wobbly” quartet of military medium-pacers; and used Mark Greatbatch as a successful “pinch-hitter” at the top — a ploy they had also used in the 1979 and 1983 World Cups when they had promoted Lance Cairns.

[Note: There is speculation over the identities. It is usually believed that Gavin Larsen and Chris Harris were Dibbly and Dobbly, though it still remains unclear as to who was who; Willie Watson was already nicknamed Wibbly; and Rod Latham’s girth earned him the name Wobbly.]

England and Pakistan had got off to starkly different starts in the tournament; England started their campaign with a hard-fought 9-run victory on the first day against India at WACA and followed it with an easy 6-wicket triumph over West Indies at MCG, while Pakistan were dished out a 10-wicket defeat by West Indies at MCG. They won against Zimbabwe at Bellerive, but their performance was nowhere close to that of a World Cup-winning unit.

Imran Khan “decided not to take a chance on the rain-affected wicket” (Channel 9) out of the match (he had also missed the contest against West Indies). Javed Miandad led in his absence. It had rained heavily the previous day. Though the pitch was covered the tinge of green was unmistakable. Graham Gooch put Pakistan in and unleashed his quintet of seamers — Derek Pringle, Phil DeFreitas, Gladstone Small, Ian Botham, and Dermot Reeve.

Seam, swing, and Stewart

There were a few anxious moments to begin with as Pringle and DeFreitas kept the shackles on Rameez Raja and Aamer Sohail, both of whom had registered a hundred earlier in the tournament. Rameez eventually gave in after scoring a solitary run, playing DeFreitas to Reeve at short extra-cover.

This brought the young, then unheralded Inzamam-ul-Haq to the crease. DeFreitas ran in, the ball took off from a good length, took the edge, and flew to Botham at second slip — who dropped it — but wait! There was the alert Alec Stewart, diving to his right, and coming up with an outstanding reflex catch!

Miandad walked out in his white helmet and rotating his right hand with gusto; here was a man who had rescued Pakistan more than perhaps any other batsman in history: would it be his day in the sun? He hung around, but Pringle and DeFreitas made runs impossible to come by, stifling the batsmen and almost forcing them to take risks.

Miandad’s patience gave in. He tried to chop a slow delivery from Pringle, but could only edge it to the stumps. Sohail fidgeted uncomfortably at the other end before attempting a full-blooded back-foot stroke. It came on to the bat later than expected, and Pringle reacted quickly for a man of his size: he was still in his follow-through when he saw the ball close to his ankle; he immediately changed direction and bent to come up with the second stupendous catch of the innings.

Pakistan were 20 for 4. Malik eased the pressure with a boundary through mid-wicket, but Ijaz Ahmed did not last long. He went after a short-pitched delivery from Small that moved outside; Stewart flung himself to his right to come up with his second outstanding catch of the match.

Botham struck from the other end. Wasim Akram tried to cut one that was too close to his body and played on. Malik managed to amble to double-figures, but fell prey to another outstanding catch — this time a low one from Reeve at first slip off Botham. As the clouds crept over Adelaide Oval, Moin Khan hit one straight to Graeme Hick at wide second slip off Small. The score read 47 for 8.

There came a late surge from Wasim Haider and Mushtaq Ahmed, both of whom reached double-figures. Gooch introduced Reeve, and Haider scored 13 before he edged one. The ball flew to Gooch at first slip — only to be intercepted by the big gloves of a flying Stewart.

Mushtaq reached 17 to equal Malik before Pringle came back to have him caught by Reeve at first slip. However, he had helped Pakistan add 27 for the last 2 wickets (with Haider and Aaqib Javed), and more importantly, had ensured the last two wickets lasted 54 minutes. In retrospect, Mushtaq’s innings was no less crucial than anyone’s in the tournament.

Pakistan were bowled out for 74 in 40.2 overs. The innings included a mere 5 boundaries (Malik hit 3 of them, while Haider and Mushtaq hit the others). The figures of the Englishmen made phenomenal reading: Pringle 8.2-5-8-3, DeFreitas 7-1-22-2, Small 10-1-29-2, Botham 10-4-12-2, Reeve 5-3-2-1.

Damp squib for England

With plenty of time to score the runs England started off cautiously before Wasim had Gooch caught-behind. Aaqib provided good support from the other end, but there were not any more mishaps as Botham returned to lunch with Robin Smith. England’s score read 17 for 1 from 6 overs. The 7,537-strong crowd that had turned up had already made a beeline for the exit: surely England would score 58 from 44 overs with 9 wickets in hand?

Did the Englishmen, confident and assured of a win, see the sky assume ominous proportions at lunch? It poured down at lunch as the cricketers, umpires, and scorers brought their calculators out. There were two more overs of play possible, in which England added 7 more before the skies opened again. The target was changed to 64 from 16 overs.

It had to be a 15-over contest for a decision. Pakistan had scored 62 from their “highest-scoring” 15 overs, which meant England would have to score 39 more to win from 7 overs if it was reduced to a 15-over match. It was still unfair on them (given how the pitch had played through the morning), but given the fact that they had a string of aggressive batsmen they would have made a fight out of it.

England never got the opportunity. Play never resumed and points were shared.

What would have happened had England won the match?

Let us have a look at the final points table. The rain turned out to be more crucial than it met the eye. It gave them Pakistan the additional point that helped them pip Australia to go to the semi-final. Australia had a slightly superior net run rate. More importantly, they also played the last match in the league, which would have given them a target to go through to the knock-out stages.

Actual

Had England won at Adelaide

M W NR L P NRR M W NR L P
New Zealand

8

7

1

14

0.59

New Zealand

8

7

1

14

England

8

5

1

2

11

0.47

England

8

6

2

12

South Africa

8

5

3

10

0.14

South Africa

8

5

3

10

Pakistan

8

4

1

3

9

0.17

Australia

8

4

4

8

Australia

8

4

4

8

0.20

Pakistan

8

4

4

8

West Indies

8

4

4

8

0.07

West Indies

8

4

4

8

India

8

2

1

5

5

0.14

India

8

2

1

5

5

Sri Lanka

8

2

1

5

5

-0.68

Sri Lanka

8

2

1

5

5

Zimbabwe

8

1

7

2

-1.14

Zimbabwe

8

1

7

2

What followed?

– Despite the result at Adelaide Imran Khan chose to bat again in the final at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The rest, as they say, is history: Pakistan lifted their first, and only till date, World Cup.
– Pringle followed his 8.2-5-8-3 with 10-2-22-3 in the final (Pakistan scored 249 for 6). His figures against Pakistan in the tournament read 6 for 30 from 18.2 overs. His performance against other teams in the tournament read 1 for 188 from 48.2 overs.
– England reached the final for the second consecutive time (and for the third time in four attempts). Unfortunately, they never made it to a World Cup semi-final again.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 74 in 40.2 overs (Derek Pringle 3 for 8) vs England 24 for 1 in 8 overs. Match abandoned.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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