Cricket WC 1999

Great Britain & Holland 1999 : Winners - Australia

• The seventh World Cup is remembered for the brilliance of Australia in coming back from the brink of elimination and the miserable failure of principal hosts England.
  
• England were knocked out before the competition really got going, along with the minnows of Scotland, Bangladesh and Kenya. Australia would have joined them had they not beaten West Indies in their final group match.
  
• Australia's escape led to two superb encounters with South Africa. In the first, in the newly-created Super Six round, Steve Waugh hit a match-winning 120 after being dropped by a prematurely celebrating Herschelle Gibbs on 56. That error came back to haunt the Proteas as they contrived to tie their semi-final against the same opposition. In scenes of complete madness, Allan Donald was run out with just one run required and three balls remaining, allowing Australia to progress on Super Six superiority.
  
• The final was nowhere near as dramatic, with Shane Warne restricting Pakistan to a lowly 132 by claiming four for 33. Australia needed only 20.1 overs to record an eight-wicket win.