ICC Cricket World Cup: History of England, South Africa and New Zealand
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 10th edition of the tournament, which was inaugurated in 1975, in England. This time around, Asia will be hosting the competition, for the third time after taking the honors in 1987 and 1996. So far,
5 nations have won the competition; Australia holds 4 trophies, West Indies 2; Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka each have won the tournament once. England, South Africa and New Zealand have failed to take the prized Cup home.
England have managed to qualify for the finals of the World Cup three times, only to lose to trophy to the opposition. In 1979, it was the mighty West Indies, against which no side of the era could compete. The 1987 final at the Eden Gardens stadium in India
saw the English go down against the healthy Australian side. Then, it was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 who shattered England’s dreams in the 1992 competition, held in Australia.
Since the 1992 championship, England have not been able to qualify for even the semi-finals. However, England have been knocked out of the semi-final stages twice. The first occasion was in 1975, when they were destroyed by eventual runners-up Australia.
Followed by that in 1983 at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, who went on to win the World Cup after a shock defeat for West Indies in the final.
When you talk of World Cup semi-finals, it is inevitable that team New Zealand spring to mind. The Kiwis have played in 5 semi-finals, never to qualify to compete for the big prize in the final. In 1975, they were shown the door by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and in 1979
by hosts England. New Zealand next qualified for the semis in 1992 where they lost at home to Pakistan, after a thrilling match. The men in green were to haunt the Black Caps once again in 1999; Pakistan went on to win the semi-final comprehensively with 9
wickets. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in 2007 to book a place in the final. The Kiwis, however, were bundled out for 208 chasing a target of 290 runs.
New Zealand might have lost 5 semi-finals; but it is South Africa, who have earned the title of ‘chokers’, following there constant misfortune in the World Cup. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 played their first World Cup in 1992 in which they were harshly eliminated in the
semi-finals by England. The Proteas needed 22 of 13 balls, when rain stopped play. After the match resumed, the target was revised to 21 runs of 1 delivery.
South Africa next reached the semi-finals in 1999 to be part of arguably the most breathtaking World Cup match.
After Australia had set a target of 214 runs, South Africa crumbled to 213 all-out. Since the match ended in a draw, the Kangaroos qualified for the final based on a better net run rate. In the following World Cup of 2003, even though South Africa crashed
out in the first round, they failed to reach the Super Sixes only due to a miss calculation of the target. South Africa needed to score just one run of one delivery to achieve the target required by the DL method. However, South African batsmen in the middle
were not aware of the situation and believed they had already reached the target and decided not to take a single of the last ball before rain abandoned play.
The Proteas reached the semis again in the 2007 competition, to face their old rivals http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. The same encounter which had produced a nail-biting finish in the 1999 competition ended with a comfortable 7 wicket win for Australia, who went on to win the
competition for the 3rd consecutive time.
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