Some big names bowed out of the international limelight after this World Cup. Dennis Amiss, Alan Knott, Tony Greig and John Snow left the scene to make their way to play in the World Series in Australia. Great West Indian player Rohan Kanhai also bade farewell. On the other hand, three all-time greats were taking their early steps in international cricket: Imran Khan and Javed Miandad of Pakistan, and New Zealand’s finest cricketer, Richard Hadlee.
Glen Turner of New Zealand was the highest runscorer of the World Cup, piling on 333 runs in four matches, 171 of them coming in one innings against East Africa. He scored another unbeaten hundred against India. In total there were six hundreds in the tournament, the others scored by Dennis Amiss and Keith Fletcher of England, Alan Turner of Australia and Clive Lloyd of West Indies.
Perhaps the innings of the tournament, for its importance to the outcome of the tournament and daring strokeplay, belonged to Clive Lloyd. The bespectacled giant of the West Indian team smote 102 off only 85 deliveries against Australia in the finals, propelling his team to a mammoth 291 for 8. He came in at a dodgy 50 for 3, and left 149 runs later, having scored 102 of those runs and striking twelve fours and two sixes in the process.
Although he played in only two matches, Australian swing bowler Gary Gilmour came away with the highest wickets in the tournament. Gilmour was included in the side for the semi-final against England, the only team other than West Indies to have progressed to the knockout stage undefeated, and duly dispatched them for 93 with bowling figures of 6 for 14. In the final against the mighty West Indians, Gilmour repeated his heroics in taking 5 for 48, but ended on the losing side with the West Indians showing more fight than the English.
Bernard Julien of the West Indies was second behind Gilmour in the wickets column, and bagged two four-wicket hauls.
Although Viv Richards displayed precious little of his monumental talent with the bat, his dynamism in the field went a long way in deciding the final in West Indies’ favour. Richards, a brilliant outfielder, had a hand in three of the five runouts in Australia’s innings.
The wicketkeepers of the two finalists, both stalwarts, lead the table for dismissals in the tournament. Rod Marsh of Australia was the leader with 10 dismissals (9 catches, 1 stumping) and Deryck Murray trailed one behind with 9 catches.
