Cricket WC 1996

India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka 1996 : Winners - Sri Lanka

• The format was changed again as the World Cup returned to the subcontinent with 12 teams playing in two groups of six. Holland, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates bolstered the numbers.
  
• Sri Lanka took the tournament by the scruff of the neck and thrilled audiences worldwide with an exciting brand of attacking cricket, led by the 'pinch-hitting' of Sanath Jayasuriya.
  
• The refusal of Australia and the West Indies to play in Colombo due to a bomb blast helped Sri Lanka's passage but there was nothing fortuitous about their eventual victory. They humiliated England in the quarter-finals and emphatically took out their frustrations on the Australians that snubbed their country in the final, with Aravinda da Silva hitting a superb century in a seven-wicket win.
  
• The West Indies, despite their Colombo protest and a shock defeat by Kenya, actually went on to reach the semi-finals before being knocked out by the Aussies.