ALL-ROUNDERS IN WORLD CUP

Australia had one of the best all-rounders of all time in Gary Gilmour, a left-arm swing bowler and a clean striker of the ball. Gilmour’s 6-14 helped Australia defeat England in the semi-final. He also took 5-48 in the final match that Australia failed to win.

1979
Ian Botham (England) and Sir Viv Richards (West Indies)

Ian Botham (right) failed to come handy with the bat while Richards went wicketless even as both of them bowled their full quota of 12 overs and batted in the middle-order for their respective teams in the 1979 WC final. However, Richards struck a magnificent 138 while Botham came up with two wickets as Australia won the game by 92 runs.

1983
Kapil Dev & Mohinder Amarnath (India) and Larry Gomes (West Indies)

Kapil Dev remained the highest run-getter for India and second highest wicket-taker after Madan Lal in the tournament. He also took the match-winning catch of Viv Richards that cleared the way for India’s win. The final however belonged to Mohinder Amarnath who scored a crucial 26 and then scalped three wickets.

For the West Indies , Hilary (Larry) Gomes remained the perfect all-round cricketer, scoring 269 runs and taking nine wickets (two in the final).

1987
Steve Waugh (Australia) and Philip DeFreitas (England)

The final was the beginning of one of the most glorious careers in cricket. Steve Waugh finished the tournament with 11 wickets and 167 runs as Australia defeated England to win their first World Cup. In the final, Waugh didn’t have the opportunity to bat much (5 n.o) but took two crucial wickets to send England packing. For England, Philip DeFreitas filled in the slot of an all-rounder otherwise taken up by a solid batting order. Defreitas scored 100 runs and took 10 wickets in the tournament.

1992
Wasim Akram (Pakistan) and Ian Botham (England)

It was the beginning for one and the end for the other. Botham bid goodbye with an impressive performance that got him 16 wickets and 196 runs in the tournament. In the final, though, Botham was sent back by none other than Akram for a duck. Akram, on the other hand, scored a quickfire 33 towards the end of Pakistan’s innings and then went on to take three crucial wickets, almost single-handedly winning the match.

1996
Aravinda DeSilva, Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) and Mark Waugh (Australia)

Mark Waugh made 484 runs in the tournament, second after Tendulkar, and took five wickets and three catches to help his side. Unfortunately, all the contribution proved useless against an aggressive and unstoppable Lankan team where Aravinda DeSilva had saved his best for the last. He hammered 448 runs and took four wickets, scoring centuries in the semi-final and the final. As for Jayasuriya, he took his batting to another level, smashing runs at a strike rate well above hundred and bowling exceedingly well in the semi-final and the final (seven wickets).

1999
Abdur Razzaq (Pakistan) and Tom Moody (Australia)

Abdur Razzaq faltered in the final but earlier in the tournament, he had scored 170 runs and taken 13 wickets to help Pakistan stay alive till the last match. For the Australians, where everybody contributed equally, Tom Moody scored important runs (117) and took seven wickets to help his team’s cause. – K Shriniwas Rao